Universal Impact
by harrypotterfan96
Summary: This is the story of Emma Amelia Song. Her destiny turns into reality as her beginnings and end is documented by herself and her parents.
1. Chapter 1

Universal Impact

Chapter 1

14th December 5158

Stormcage

My heart raced and my palms sweat as the TARDIS materialised outside of my cell. That brilliant, impossible man stepped out of the time machine and said, ''Hi, honey. I'm home.''

He soniced the door and the alarm immediately sounded. I walked out casually and he held his hand out towards the entrance and said, ''After you.''

The thought I had been lingering on before he arrived burned in my mind. How am I going to tell him that I am carrying his child? I entered and sat in a chair while he flew the TARDIS into the time vortex. Upon sitting, I immediately felt very deprived of energy.

He took notice and asked, ''Are you alright, River?''

''I'm fine, just a bit fatigued, that's all,'' I said. I paused for a few moments then asked, ''Are you past the night when you took me to the Medusa Cascade?''

''Yes, I am,'' he said with a smile.

''That was an incredible night, wasn't it? It was one of the best places you've taken me, I think.''

I carefully got up and walked over to him. I kissed him on the lips passionately.

''Your hands are sweating... You're deprived of energy. You're hiding something from me, River Song.''

I cackled flirtatiously and wrapped my arm around his neck. I whispered the news in his ear and he was silent, but a jubilant smile was on his face.

''We're going to be parents!,'' he exclaimed, running around the console.

He was about to type in his destination, but I stopped him. ''I know it's tempting, Sweetie, but I want it to be a surprise.''

He seemed a bit disappointed, but then said, ''Then it's off to the Ponds!''

* * *

Dinner at my parent's house was a normal occurrence for the Doctor and I, but it was a tad more nerve wracking, given recent events. They welcomed us with open arms, as always, but my Mother noticed my slightly abnormal condition.

''River, you seem tired. Are you okay?,'' she asked once we sat on the sofa across from my parents in their lounge.

''Yes, I'm fine, it's just...'' I gave the Doctor a look that said I was ready to announce the news. He gently squeezed my hand and I told them the news.

''About three weeks ago, the Doctor took me to the Medusa Cascade and... never mind that, what I'm trying to say is... I'm pregnant.''

''What?!'' they shouted in unison at my announcement.

''How are you pregnant? Didn't you two get married just a couple of months ago?,'' Mum asked.

''From your point of view, Amy. We got married a couple of years ago,'' the Doctor explained.

''I'm twenty four years old and I'm going to be a grandmother. That's exciting, but really weird.''

Dad was still shocked, but it took a minute or so to process what was happening.

''I'm... going to be a grandfather. A grandfather! We're too young to be grandparents. How...''

I thought he was used to that sort of thing by now, but apparently not. The Doctor slapped him on the back of the shoulder and said, ''Well then, Mr. Pond, this calls for a celebration!''

Two minutes later, they made a toast (my beverage was water, obviously) to good health and prosperity. An hour later, the Doctor and I left because I was feeling slightly dizzy and nauseated. However, the moment I entered the TARDIS, I felt fine.

''Are you sure you're okay? You look quite pale.''

''Yes... can I stay here, I mean, the guards probably wouldn't let me keep it and...''

''Of course,'' he said immediately.

''Just promise me that you won't let what happened to me happen to them. Promise me, please,'' I said desperately.

He came over to me and wrapped his arms around my midsection. ''I solemnly swear it. I will protect it until I draw my last breath. I won't let you down, River. I won't.''

His answer made me breathe a sigh of relief, making me confident that our child will be well protected and looked after. I was certain that they will have the best father in the universe.

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night and rushed to the toilet. The nausea was, hopefully, at its peak. I sighed and clutched my stomach. Having heard the noise, I saw the Doctor in the doorway with a highly concerned look on his face.

''It's alright, Sweetie, just-argh- morning sickness.''

My stomach churned and he came to my side. He went over to the drawer, got a wet cloth and handed it to me. I cleaned myself up, but as soon as I did, I bent over the toilet and the horrible morning sickness resumed. He rubbed my back gently, in an attempt to comfort me.

''It's definitely worse than a human pregnancy,'' I said honestly.

''It still takes nine months to develop, but it might have two hearts, causing it to be more painful... I think I have something for the pain... I'll be right back.''

He ran off and a couple of minutes later, he came back with a vile of green liquid in his hand. It looked very revolting and putrid, but I had to take it if I wanted the pain to lessen.

''There you go. It will take an hour to take full effect and their are no side effects. It's the best medicine I have for pregnancy.''

I took it trying not to think of how gross it would taste. After taking it, he helped me up and I went back to our bedroom and dressed for the day. While in the process of doing so, I couldn't help but think that these next few months are going to be restless.

* * *

** A/N: Sorry! It's been ages! If you are confused on anything in this chapter, PM me. Reviews make me happy! : )**


	2. Chapter 2

Universal Impact

Chapter 2

The Prophecy

8th February, 1817

Earth

Doctor's POV

I put the note I wrote to River on my pillow. I bent down and gently kissed her cheek. She looked very restless and fatigued. These past three months have been a roller coaster. She has had bouts of seemingly violent morning sickness and developed strange cravings such as pasta and chocolate sauce.

Anyway, I went to the control room and typed in my destinatiion of Earth. Vastra had called me last night and requested me immediatley for some very important reason. The TARDIS landed a few seconds later and I crossed to the coat rack, grabbing my green overcoat and Stetson. I walked out, locked the door and found myself in a Victorian style living room.

The Silurian grinned when she saw me arrive and said, ''Hello, old friend.''

I sat one seat away from her on the sofa.

"Vastra. Why am I here?''

''Your wife... is she barren?'' she asked, taking a drink of tea from a mug she had in her hand.

''Yes. She's been for three months now. How did you know?''

''The whole universe knows. I assume you know about the prophecy, then?"

I leaned forward and asked, ''What propechy?''

''The ood foretold it, but no one knows who wrote it. It tells of a girl of two worlds whose destiny is to save the universe from an evil power.''

I froze and knew that she was talking about my... daughter. Why is their a prohpecy about her?

''Do you have it?''

She handed me a piece of paper. I glanced at it and put it in the interior pocket of my overcoat.

''Thank you, Vastra.''

I got up and walked towards the TARDIS. I put the key in the lock, turned it and opened the door. I took my Stetson off and put it on the coat rack. I raced to the console and searched for the girl of two worlds prophecy. The result was still downloading when I felt the psychic paper heat up in my overcoat pocket, indicating that I had a message. I took it out of my pocket and opened the flap.

The message read:

Meet me at the Maldovarium. We need to talk. I'm at the right corner booth. Come alone.

The handwriting curiously looked as big as mine, but it was in the same font and neatness as River's. I raised an eyebrow at this coinsidence, but kept it in mind as I put it back in my pocket and typed in the coordinates.

. . .

I walked through the bar with my Stetson on. The strong smell of alcohol was in the air as I looked for the person who wrote the message. I crossed to the back and found her sitting in the very corner. She was slender and petite, but it fit her age well. She looked about nineteen and had brown hair which fell down to her back in waves. She was wearing a black silk dress, a gray overcoat and brown leather combat boots.

Once she saw me, she said, ''Well I screwed up. You look far too young. It's too early, but you were always very impatient. Please, sit.''

I did and she grinned.

''Oh you're soo young. I seriously went too soon this time.''

She took a swig of vodka and then swirled the glass around. That action reminded me so much of River. I took the time to look at her facial features. She had River's curved eyebrows and long eyelashes.

''So, you wanted to talk,'' I said, reminding her of her message she sent me.

She put down the glass and said, ''Oh... yeah. But first, where are you exactly?''

''I just found out about your prophecy. You?''

''I was visiting someone. How's Mum?''

''She's.. fine.''

She raised an eyebrow in suspicion and asked, ''Really? I've never seen you this young. And if you're that young it seems that you're at the time where she's pregnant with me.''

I sighed in defeat and put up my hands in surrender. ''Alright, you got me. She isn't fine. She's sick, very sick.''

''Well at least you know I turn out okay. How far along is she?''

''Three months, thanks for asking... When's your birthday?''

She sighed, leaned forward more and whispered the date into my ear. I was flabbergasted at her response. She leaned back in her seat and tears began to sparkle in her light blue eyes.

''I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have told you that. I'm such an idiot...''

I reached my hand out to hers and I squeezed it gently. ''Hey, no you're not. Everyone makes mistakes. And besides, you're helping me.''

''Do what?'' she asked, wiping her tears with her other hand.

''Protect you.''

She smiled and pulled her hand away from mine. She got up, left the glass of vodka on the table and crossed over to my side of the booth. She kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear, ''I know what happens and run, just run. Keep me safe. Keep her safe. And as for my name, you'll have to figure that out for yourself.''

I watched her walk away. She walked like me and had River's excellent curves. I stood and walked back to the TARDIS. Once I entered, I walked up to the computer and realised that the search downnloaded. I read the top and found her name: Emma Amelia Song.


	3. Chapter 3

Universal Impact

Chapter 3

The Name Which Changed History

8th March 3033

The TARDIS

River's POV

We did a scan a couple of days ago and found out it was a girl. Since then, we've been trying to figure out what her name should be, but no luck so far. The only thing we've been able to agree on is her middle name: Amelia, to honour her grandmother. Any discussion we have about her first name ends up turning into an argument.

I got out of bed and made my way to one of the kitchens. I entered upon finding my husband leaning against the sink, grinning.

I crossed my arms and asked, ''What are you suggesting?''

He paused for dramatic effect and said, ''Emma. On Earth, it means universal and complete. In Gallifreyan, it means lasting peace and the bringer of hope.''

Emma. It was music to my ears. The name itself was simple, direct, but meledous. The meaning was confident and strong-willed. I blinked, surprised that he didn't suggest another ten syllable name like the other times we've discussed this.

''It's... perfect. Emma Amelia Song.''

''It has a nice flow to it,'' he pointed out.

''I couldn't agree more with you. Should we tell my parents?''

''I was just about to say that,'' he said, walking off to the control room.

I went back to our bedroom and changed clothes. We had landed by the time I entered the control room and we went out.

. . .

I gladly took a mug of tea from my mother's hand as we sat in the fold out chairs on the deck. My father, along with my husband, were in the lounge watching a football match.

''How are you feeling?,'' she asked me.

''Alright. I mean, apart from being tired all the time. Thank God the morning sickness is over. That was one of the worst things I've ever been through.''

''That's good. Have you decided on a name yet?''

''Yes. Her name is going to be Doctor picked it... he said it means universal and complete. It means lasting peace and the bringer of hope in Gallifreyan. We spent ages deciding on her name and he kept suggesting names that no one could pronounce, The only thing we could agree on at first was her middle name, which is going to be Amelia.''

''Oh, River, you shoudn't have. So... Emma Amelia Song. I love it. I'm going to be the proudest grandmother in the universe... even though I'm 24.''

''I think you'll get used to it... I can't believe it... I'm going to be the mother of the Doctor's child. I'm... absoultley terrified.''

Amy took my hand and rubbed it reassuringly. ''You're going to do fine. I promise. You're going to be the best mother in the universe. I just know it. I have complete faith in you, River. Everyone does. The only thing you need is faith in yourself so that you can be the best mother you can be.''

. . .

I found the Doctor looking at the screen four hours later in the TARDIS.

''What are you looking at?,'' I asked him.

He turned around and said with a innocent look on his face, ''Nothing, dear.''

''Is there a prophecy about her?''

''Er... yes. Why?''

''I... had a dream about it last night,'' I said, beginning to tear up for no reason. I put my hand up to my lips, covering them and began crying uncontrollably.

''I'm sorry.. I just... these stupid hormones...''

He put an arm around me and led me to the kitchen. Once we entered, he went over to the table, pulled out the chair and I carefully sat down. He crossed to the stove and put the kettle on for tea. He came over and sat across from me.

''What was the dream about?,'' he asked in a calm and understanding voice.

I wiped my tears on my pajama sleeve and then took out the paper with the prophecy. I handed it to him and he looked at it for a second, then got out his copy of it and compared the two.

''They're.. they're the exact same.''

I cried more, but he grabbed my hand gently and rubbed it reassuringly.

''Just because a prophecy was made about her doesn't mean it's entirely true. I will protect her until my dying breath. I will not let her suffer because of the mistakes I've made. I will not let her out of my sight and I will not lose her like I have so many others. I. Will. Not.''

I gave him a look of dominant confidence, but skeptisism. I carefully got up from my seat, walked over and we embraced briefly before I retired to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Universal Impact

Chapter 4

The Anxious Mother

29th April 3033

the TARDIS

River's POV

I sat in a chair in the TARDIS library, reading the fifth book in the beloved 'Harry Potter' series from the 21st century. I had been occupying my time with reading the series and I fell in love with it since halfway through the first book.

I marked my current place and closed it. I glanced at my bulging stomach and suddenly felt overwhelmingly blessed. Never in a thousand years would I have ever thought I would be the mother of the Doctor's child. I don't deserve to be her mother, and yet, somehow, the universe thinks I am the perfect woman for the role.

Starting last week, I began to feel nauseated and the Doctor gave me strict orders not to stand for a long period of time and to get plently of rest. I have begun to fear that something terrible is going to happen. The dramatic drop in my health is making the Doctor dreadfully worried and stressed. It's like he knows something important that I should know, but when I try to talk to him about it, he just changes the subject.

A sharp pain pierces my lower back. I put my hand on the sight of the pain, rubbing it and I sat up straight, trying to ease the pain more. The pain decreases slowly and I sigh.

"Four more months," I whisper to myself, "four more months."

The Doctor estimated my due date to be the 18th of August, give or take a day. I have a feeling it will be much sooner because of the sickness. I also have been having the strangest dreams. Just last week, I dreamt that I was in the TARDIS, watching the Doctor and an older version of Emma looking at a colourful lightning storm, apparently having a father-daughter date. It was like I was witnessing her future.

He mentioned that the dreams could be her actual future and that those types if dreams only happen with Gallifreyan pregancies.

I reopened the book and started to read. I was interrupted by the sound of the door opening a few minutes later. I looked up from the novel and turned around to find that my husband had entered. Since I had started feeling sick, he constantly checks on me.

"Feeling okay?" he asked for the thousanth time.

"Yes, only some minor back pain, that's all."

"Have you had any dreams lately?"

"Just asking," he said, starting to walk out.

"You had a dream about her?" I asked curiously.

He turned around and said truthfully, "Yes, but it was very different from the ones you've been having."

He could sense I was worried, so he walked over to me, held his hand out and I took it. I stood from the chair only with some difficulty and he wrapped me around in his arms. He gently put his hand on my stomach and rubbed his thumb.

"The last time I was a father, back on Gallifrey, I remember I would take my children stargazing every weekend just when the twin suns would overlap with each other. Soon after, the moon would rise high above Mount Kartorborous and billions of stars would appear in the black sky. Oh, how I miss that sight.

The dream I had was similar to it, but it was just her and I gazing at the lightning storm of Cotter Paulini's World. I wasn't watching them, I was in the perspective of the older version of myself. By the conversation that we had, I figured out that I had taken her there for her 14th birthday."

"What did she look like?" I asked eagerly.

"I thought you wanted it to be a surprise," he said, still rubbing my stomach.

I paused, remembering what I said a few months ago. "You've seen her, haven't you? The night you went to the Maldovarium I knew you saw her. The look in your eyes told me that you did."

He sighed deeply, then took his hand off of my stomach. We intertwined hands and left the library. He lead me to the console room. In his normal quirky attitude, he flew the TARDIS into the time vortex and moments later, we landed. He glanced at the doors, motioning me to open them. I carefully walked down the steps and opened the doors as he instructed. I looked in awe at the scene. He came behind me and put his arm around my shoulders.

In the distance, I saw cliffs above a deserted beach where two figures were walking along the sand. The water was very blue and the sand was white, even though the cliffs were green and lush. I could see that the two figures were the Doctor and Emma. We could faintly hear them talking.

"Can you teach me how to fly it?" she asked.

"When you're older," was his response.

"I'm at the perfect age to know how. And besides, I might need to know sooner because what if something happens to you and I would need to fly it?"

"Then the TARDIS would teach you."

"How would the TARDIS teach me how to fly itself?"

"You have a telepathic connection with it, and so does your Mum."

"How?"

"That's another very long story for another day, but now your grandparents invited us for dinner and we don't want to be late."

"Er... we have a time machine. We could cure cancer, visit Niagara Falls and witness Louis XIV being crowned and still not be late. We're time travellers so we don't have to worry about being late."

"Never thought about it like that."

She was looking at the sea in awe of the colour of it. She looked at it for a while and he came up behind her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks for taking me here," she said.

"It was my pleasure."

They stood there for a long while. I couldn't see the details of her appearence, only that she had wavy brown hair and that her height around 4'11". He then removed his arm from her shoulders and looked down at her.

"Come along, Song."

She followed him back to their TARDIS and we watched as they dematerialised from the beach.


	5. Chapter 5

Universal Impact

Chapter 5

Tick Tock

24th May 3033

the TARDIS

I was rocking back and forth in the rocking chair, stroking my bulging stomach in the nursery that the TARDIS provided. The walls were the ghastly colour of pink, but it had grown on me as time passed. In the back of the room was a white crib and parallel to it was a large walk in closet stocked with clothes and other necessities. The ceiling shown the sky filled with multitudes of stars, which the Doctor added for a touch of calming abnormality to the room.

As the days went on, I became increasingly sick. I seriously don't know what's wrong and neither does the Doctor. Unfortunately, he thinks my due date is going to be anywhere from six days to three weeks from now if it gets any worse. I am absolutley terrified. I don't know how to respond to this because I'm so scared. The Doctor has been staying in the TARDIS more often than not just in case an emergency arises.

In the course of these six months, I had only wished she was healthy, but it turned out that I didn't get my wish after all. Tears of anxiety and sheer hormonal imbalance fell from my eyes as I began to cry.

"If you're feeling any better I have something you've got to see!"

He was running down the hall as he said this, but when he burst into the room, his wide grin immediatley turned into a frown.

"River what's wrong?"

"I- I'm not ready... for all of this."

He came over and took his hand in mine, bending down to my level.

"I know you're scared, but I promise you that it's going to be fine. You saw her on the beach so you know she turns out fine. You know that she doesn't get captured. Whatever happens, you know I will protect her."

6th June 3033

the TARDIS

I awoke in the TARDIS sick bay alarmingly from a horrible nightmare. I felt the Doctor's hand in mine and once my vision focused, his expression was one of worry and fatigue. Throughout these past three weeks, he had become restless. His face had grown thin from self-starvation and he had dark bags under his eyes. He had been by my side every single second since I was bed ridden and quarantined to the room, therefore he was starving himself and not sleeping at all, even though I beg him to do so.

The sickness was so chronic and so severe that it came to the point that I was coughing up blood. Upon witnessing this, the Doctor immediatley brought me here and hooked me up to several different monitoring systems. It hasn't gotten that severe since, but something in his eyes is telling me that he knows what's coming.

"Nightmare?" he asks, checking the heart monitor beside me.

I nod because I'm still too shocked to say anything. He adjusts something on the monitor that he's checking and I become a bit more comfortable than I was moments ago.

"Better?"

"Much, thanks."

The phone rang from the console room and he looked up from the device he was checking. He put it down and said to me whike walking out, "I'll be right back."

*Doctor's POV*

I walked along the corridor to the console room while the ringing of the phone echoed. By the sixth ring, I picked it up and put it to my ear.

"I know it's you," I said.

"Today is the day, yes?"

I paused then said, "How did you know?"

The voice on the other end laughed meniacaly then said,"Oh, Doctor. Everyone knows. News like that spreads too easily. I actually never thought that you would be a father again, considering what I did to your wife."

"What did you do to her?"

"Opps. Let's just say I... adjusted her reproductive system."

I growled in explosive anger and threw the phone down on the console.

"You've lost again. There's absolutley nothing you can do to protect her. She will become a weapon to kill you, just like her mother. We will come tonight. Tick, tock, Doctor. Tick. Tock."

The line went dead and I forced myself not to believe what Kovarian did. Something she did to River caused my wife to be so sick, but it sounded more like she made her completely unable to reproduce. If Kovarian did that to her, then how is she pregnant?

*River's POV*

I was absolutley exhausted by lunch time. I felt so weak, so vulnerable that I could hardly move a muscle. I had thrown up three times in the past five hours and I have a feeling that it's going to happen tonight.

I quickly dismissed that thought so I didn't make myself more anxious than I already was. It's around 6.15 and I could see the Doctor getting more tense by the minute.

"Are you alright, Sweetie?" I asked him.

He looked up and immediatley put on a facade. "Oh, yes, quite alright. Are you?"

Suddenly there was a loud banging noise above us and the lights flickered on and off. Once they returned to normal, I noticed a black tally mark on the Doctor's left forearm.

"Doctor," I said, "look at your arm."

"I know."

*Doctor's POV*

The lights flickered on and off again. I remembered unhooking River from everything, but I don't know why. For the few seconds they were on, I could see at least thirteen tick marks on my arm. I heard an ear shattering scream and a loud, defined thud. The flickering lights made it harder to manuver around the room, but after just one more tick mark, I made it to the corridor. After quickly checking for any sign of Kovarian, my face fell upon a horrid sight.

River sat upright against the wall, unconsious. A small puddle of blood was between her legs and it quickly expanded. I rushed over to her and pulled out my sonic. I did a medical scan and the results showed that she was losing a lot of blood and because of it, she was having contractions. I put the sonic in my pocket and carefully picked her up. The lights were back to normal once I gently put her on the bed. I jabbed an IV into her left forearm and connected it to the fluid.

"Come on, River, wake up," I said desperately, trying to wake her.

She was still bleeding slightly. It stained the white hospital sheets, but it didn't matter. She suddenly bolted upright and yelled in agony, clutching her stomach. I hurridley took off my tweed jacket and threw it aside on to one of the chairs. I unbuttoned the wrist cuffs of my shirt and rolled the sleeves up halfway.

Her ear splitting yell echoed throughout the room as I grasped her hand. She thankfully took hold of it so tightly that my hand was slightly going numb after a few seconds of her holding it.

"River, I know it hurts-"

"You don't know what it's like! You're not a woman!"

"-but just breathe."

"That's the hardest thing to do right now!"

"River, please, just breathe! This process will go a whole lot more smoothly if you just breathe!"

She obeyed and she said that it helped with the pain some, but not by much. Some time after three in the morning, she yelled that they had been getting worse, so I dashed to the medical cabinet and injected morphine into the tube. She breathed a comforting sigh once the liquid entered her veins. Around 10.30, she had been getting used to the contractions. I, on the other hand, was very nervous because my daughter is due to be born in less than an hour.

* * *

At exactly 11.17 AM, I held her in my arms for the first time. She opened her eyes and blinked, looking up at me. We looked into each other's eyes and the love that I felt for her was immediate and unconditional. This type of love was like nothing I'd ever experienced before, even with my past children.

It was like the beginning of a wildfire; expanding and destroying every negative feeling I've ever felt. Small tears made their way down my cheeks.

"She's... she's," I stammered, obviously at a loss for words.

"Can I see her?" River asked weakly.

I wrapped her in a blanket and then gently handed her over to River. She sighed in awe once she was placed in her arms.

"Oh, look at her eyes... they're so blue. They're just like yours, Doctor."

"Yes, they are very blue... Hello, Emma... I'm your Dad."

I was still crying because I was just so awestruck at the sight of her small, fragile body being held against River's chest. I was confident that we were going to be the best parents a child would ever have.

"Emma Amelia Song... welcome to the universe," I said proudly.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you soo much for the awesome feedback! : ) I'm flabbergasted at the response for this story : D For your support, I will try to post at least two chapters! Enjoy!**

Universal Impact

Chapter 6

The Difficult Choice

Soon after...

The lights flickered for the third time and my anxiety heightened greatly. I gave River a worried look and said, "We need to get her out of here. The Silence are getting closer."

She knew what I meant and held Emma tighter to her chest protectively. "No. No. Please, Doctor. We can protect her without taking her somewhere else."

"River, we have to. If we don't they will come and capture her. This is our only chance to protect her and we don't want to waste it."

She paused and looked down at her. She bent down and kissed her forehead. I took my daughter from my wife's arms and carefully held her in my arms.

"Don't worry. I'll put her somewhere safe. I promise, but for the time being, you need to rest."

We embraced quickly and I gave her a confident smile as I dashed out the door. I raced through the corridors and noticed that she didn't make a sound. I stopped, looked down at her and asked, "Hey, you okay? You alright?"

The sparkle in her eyes told me that she was okay so I ran down the steps and flew the TARDIS with my free hand. Once we landed, I saw that we were in Yorkshire on 7th June, 1996. I stepped out and found myself in a quaint neighbourhood. I went to the doorstep to the nearest house and Emma cried, as if she knew what I was doing.

"Shh, shh... I promise that we will come back for you. Soon. I am so sorry that we did this, but we had to. We'll come back and explain it all to you... See you soon, Emma."

I kissed her forehead for as long as I could then gently set her down on the ground a few feet away from the door. Before anyone could see me, I went down the steps and entered the TARDIS which was parked in the middle of the road. I closed the door, walked up to the console and leaned against it. How did I just leave my daughter, my own flesh and blood, out there to be cared for by complete strangers? I've failed! I've been a father for five minues and I've already failed! I put my face in my hands and began sobbing. The weight of the universe once again crushed on my shoulders as I fell to the ground crying out tears of regret, anxiety and restlessness.

I heard footsteps near me a minute later and River asked, "Doctor?"

I wiped my tears on my hands and looked up at her. She looked very tired and a worried look was on her face. She came to my side and sat down carefully. She kissed my cheek, took hold of my hand and rubbed it.

"I regret it so much. She's an innocent child and I ruined her life by giving her up."

She stroked my hair and said, "You had good reason to... we have the TARDIS so we can go through her timeline and get her at a time where she can understand what happened."

A second later, I grinned and kissed her cheek. I stood and exclaimed, "You're brilliant! Absolutley brilliant, River Song!"

I raced around the console, flying her into the time vortex. The moment the TARDIS landed, we excitedly raced outside. I expected to be in the neighbourhood I was in previously in 2009, but instead we winded up at Blackpool beach. It was a gloomy day by the look of it and storm clouds were rolling in. The entire beach ran for shelter as it started pouring. The red flag was waving madly in the wind, signaling high tide.

In the far distance, a small black figure caught my eye. To my horror, I realised that it was Emma. People started pointing at her and yelling in shock. She floated out to sea helpless.

"Oh dear Lord," River said as I heard the lifeguard phone the coast guard, telling them to fly out in a helicopter to get her.

Emma floated farther away from shore with every second that passed. By now, I'd guess that she was about 600 metres away. I desperatley wanted to do something, but all I could do was watch. I saw her drown in the ocean depths as a wave practically swallowed her like a shark capturing a fish in its mouth for an evening meal.

"Emma!" River shouted, starting to run towards the chaos, but I stopped her.

"It's too dangerous, River!" I yelled over the sound of the storm.

Emma was still submerged, but I knew that she was still alive. Being mostly Gallifreyan, she could easily heal herself of the wounds she recieved from this, although she didn't know it yet. Overhead, the sound of a helicopter was heard. It zoomed above us with surprising speed, making it across to the ocean in no time at all. A diver appeared at the edge of the opening of it and jumped, hitting the ocean's surface with a splash. Everyone on shore didn't move a muscle until two minutes later, she was brought back up to the surface. The diver had his arm around her and a stretcher was brought down. The diver placed her in it and they were pulled back up to the helicopter. Everyone cheered, glad that she was rescued.

I grabbed River's hand and we went back into the TARDIS.

"Thank God she was alright. Where are we going?"

"To the hospital to pay her a visit."

I pulled the engine starter down and two seconds later, we landed in her hospital room. We entered to a room full of ballons and get well cards which surrounded the perimetre around her. Having checked my watch, it was two days after the incident.

By the look of it, she seemed very young possibly anywhere around six and eight years old. She was small, petite and fragile. She was sleeping soundly. Her face was as pale as a ghost. I sat in a chair next to her bed and River sat beside me. I noticed she had an IV in her right hand. I reached out my hand to her forehead and rubbed it. She was hot, very hot. She moaned slightly when I touched her. River held her hand. Her features were contrasting because of her brown hair, but they somehow all fit. She looked exhausted.

After a couple of minutes, we went back into the TARDIS. I started the engines up then said, "Let's go get our daughter."

I typed in 7th June 2009 and pulled the engine starter back forcefully as she shook, as if my ship was just as determined as I was to bring her home.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello lovely readers! I apologise for the delay, but just to let you know this chapter has dialogue from 'The Angels Take Manhattan'. It will probably be split into two parts due to its length. (Obviously) in no way shape or form does the episode belong to me. Nor does Doctor Who. Sadly... but one day it might *evil laugh***

Universal Impact

Chapter 7

One Year Later

16th September 2012

Central Park, NYC

Emma's POV

''Please!'' I begged Dad for the thousanth time.

''We'll do it later,'' he answered.

''But you promised to take us there after we landed,'' I whined.

''I said later. Now we're in Central Park and we might as well make the most of it.''

We sat on a flat, large rock after we had decided to take a few minutes to take in the view. Dad put the picnic basket a few feet away from him and sat with his back to Amy's. She was reading the New York Times with brand new circuar rimmed glasses on her face, while Rory and I were admiring the park's magnificent scenery. Dad took out a book and began reading aloud.

_'' 'New York growled at my window, but I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight. My lipstick was combat-ready and I was packing cleavege that could fell an ox from twenty feet.' ''_

_ ''Doctor, you're doing it again,'' Amy said exasperatedly._

_ ''I'm reading.''_

_ ''Out loud. Please, could you not?''_

_ He turned around and examined her. ''There's something different about you, isn't there?''_

_ ''What's the book,'' Rory asked him._

_ ''Melody Malone,'' he said, ''She's the private detective of old town New York.''_

''Isn't that Mum's real name? It seems like something she would write,'' I said, making a valid point.

Dad looked up and turned to me. ''Yes it is. You're very observant, Emma, but I think it's only a coinsidence.''

_''She's got ice in her heart, a kiss on her lips and a vulnerable side she keeps well-hidden,'' Amy described her._

_ ''Oh, you've read it?'' Dad asked._

_ ''No. You read it. Out loud. Then went, 'Yowzah!' ''_

_ ''Only you could fancy someone in a book,'' Rory said._

_ ''I'm just reading. I like the cover.''_

_ ''Oh! Let me see it,'' Amy said, trying to grab it from Dad's hands, but he pulled it away from her just in time._

_ ''No. No. I'm busy,'' he said, examining her again. ''It's your hair. Is it your hair?''_

_ ''Oh, shut up. It's the glasses. I'm wearing reading glasses now on my nose. See? There you go.''_

_ ''I don't like them. They make your eyes look all line-y,'' he said, pulling them up then immediatley putting them back down again, ''No. Actually. Sorry. They're fine. Carry on.''_

_ ''Okay. I'm going to get some more coffee. Who wants coffee? Me, too! I'll go,'' Rory said, standing and starting to walk off to find a coffee shop._

_ ''Rory,'' she said, making him stop, ''do I have noticable lines on my eyes?''_

_ Dad said, ''Yes,'' immediatley and Rory said, ''No.''_

_ ''You didn't look,'' she said._

_ ''I noticed them earlier. Didn't notice them. I specifically remember not noticing them,'' he said, turning around._

_ ''You walk among fire pits, Centurion,'' she said, obviously flirting._

_ ''Do I have to come over there?''_

_ ''Can, if you like.''_

_ ''Well, we have company,'' he said, momentarily glancing at Dad and I._

_ ''I'll get a babysitter.''_

_ They kissed passionatley._ I grimaced and gaged.

Dad noticed my slim level of comfort and said, _''You know, it's so humiliating when you do that.''_

_ They parted and Amy said, ''Coffee.''_

_ He walked off. Dad looked up from the book and asked Amy, ''Can I have a go?''_

_ He took Amy's glasses off her face and put them on his own. He put the book closer to his face then farther away._

_ ''Oh. That's much better. That is exciting.''_

_ ''Read it to me,'' she said as they once again were back to back._

I saw this as my cue to walk over and sit by her.

_''I thought you didn't like my reading aloud,'' he said._

_ ''Shut up and read me a story. Just don't go 'Yowzah!' ''_

_ He cackled slightly and looked for the page he was on, then ripped it out._

_ ''Why did you do that?'' Amy asked him._

_ ''Oh, I always rip out the last page of a book. Then it doesn't have to end. I hate endings.''_

_ He put the page in the picnic basket, found the correct part in the book and began reading to us._

_ '' 'As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began.' ''_

We stood and walked over to a bridge near where we were just at. Dad and I sat on the raliing and Amy was feeding the ducks as Dad continued to read.

_'' 'I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned around and I could ask what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes.' ''_

_ ''Beware the Yowzah! Do not, at this point, yowz,'' Amy said._

_ Dad looked at the page shockingly and leaped down from the railing. I tried to follow his eyes to read what made him so shocked, but I couldn't seem to find it. I came down from the railing as I was trying to do this._

_ Amy came over from the other side, noticed Dad's startled look and asked, ''Doctor? What did the skinny guy say?''_

_ After a slight pause, he said, ''He said, 'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor, Amy _and Emma. _Hello, River.' ''_

We stared at each other, shock lined every inch of our faces and Dad said, ''TARDIS. Now.''

_He quickly ushered us out of the park and we hurridley crossed the street. I had no time to even look at my surroundings. Dad was walking in front of us and we were trying to catch up._

_ ''Why is River in a book? Why is Rory in a book?'' she asked._

_ ''He went to get coffee. Pay attention.''_

_ ''He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that happen?''_

_ We were outside the TARDIS by then, which was parked near the river below the Manhattan Bridge._

_ ''I don't know. We're in New York,'' he said, unlocking it and going in while we followed._

_ Dad zoomed around the console while we strode up the steps._

_ ''How did you get this book?,'' I asked him curiously._

_ ''It was in my jacket.''_

_ ''How did it get there?,'' Amy asked._

_ ''How does anything get there? I've given up asking. Date. Date. Does she mention a date? When is this happening?''_

_ Amy flipped through the pages frantically and said, ''Yes, hang on. Oh.. April 3rd, 1938.''_

_ He typed it in and Amy read a bit more._

_ '' 'You couldn't have,' I said-' ''_

_ He came behind her from (it seemed) out of nowhere and said, ''Couldn't have! What does she mean couldn't have?''_

_ She kept on reading. '' 'The city's full of time distortions. It'd be impossible to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it.' ''_

_ ''Even who couldn't do it?!'' he said._

_ ''Don't you two fall out,'' Amy said, ''She's only in a book.''_

_ ''Hunh. 1938. Easy one,'' Dad said before the TARDIS was being thrown back and forth, like it was trying to land. Amy and I hung to the railings desperately as the console sparked._

_ We landed and Amy asked, ''What was that?''_

_ ''1938,'' Dad explained, ''We just bounced off it.''_

_ We quickly filed out of the TARDIS and once I saw where we were, I realised something was wrong. We were in a cemetery and statues of angels were everywhere, along with a few dozen gravestones. Amy read more._

_ '' 'Vortex Manipulator. Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic. You?' _He looked at me, very confused as to what was going on and said_, 'I'm... not sure.' ' ''_

_ ''The Weeping Angels,'' Amy said._

''The what?'' I asked, having not encountered them before.

_''It makes sense,'' Dad said._

_ ''It makes what?'' Amy asked._

_ ''That's what happened to Rory. That's what the Angels do, it's their preferred form of attack. They dump you back in time, let you live to death,'' he said, partly answering my question._

_ ''Well, we have a time machine. We could just go and get him,'' she said._

_ ''Well, tried that if you've noticed and we are back where we started in 2012!''_

_ ''We didn't start in a graveyard. What are we doing here?'' _I asked.

_ ''Don't know. Probably causually linked somehow. Doesn't matter,'' he said. He stuck his head into the TARDIS and yelled, ''Extractor fans on!''_

_ ''Well, we're gonna get there somehow. We're in the rest of the book,'' Amy said, flipping through various pages of it._

_ ''I'm what?'' he asked._

_ ''Page 43. You're going to break something.''_

_ ''I'm what?'' he asked again._

_ '' 'Why do you have to break mine,' I asked. He frowned and said, 'Because Amy read it in a book and now I have no choice.' ''_

_ ''No! No! Stop!,'' he yelled, running over to her and grabbing the book out of her hands, ''You can't read ahead. We can only read what's parallel to us. This isn't just any old future, Amy. It's ours. You told me I am going to break something and I have to break it.''_

_ ''Time can be rewritten,'' she reminded him._

_ ''Once you know what's coming, it's set in stone.''_


	8. Chapter 8

Universal Impact

Chapter 8

Guilty Event

16th September 2012

Winter Quay/ Graveyard

_We went back into the TARDIS and Dad ran to the console, pulled himself up on top of it and started spinning the wheel on the overhang._

_ ''Okay, landing a plane in a timey-wimey blizzard. I can push through, but if I'm off by a nanosecond the engines will phase and I'll shatter the planet. I'll need landing lights.''_

_ ''Landing lights?'' Amy asked._

_ ''Yes. I need a signal to lock on to. What did she say? Early Qin Dynasty?''_

''That's the one,'' Amy said.

. . .

_ We stepped out and found ourselves in a Chinese market during the middle of the Qin Dynasty. A man looked at Dad suspiciously._

_ ''Oh... hello,'' he said, taking out the psychic paper, flashing it in the man's direction, ''special permission from the Emperor.''_

_ Once we did what we came for, we left and once we were in the TARDIS, Dad zoomed around the landed with a jolt and Dad looked in the mirror._

_ ''Come on!'' Amy said as she and I were about to run out._

_ ''Just a moment. Final checks,'' he said, smoothing down his floppy brown hair._

I rolled my eyes_ and Amy asked, ''Since when?''_

_ He smoothed his jacket and walked out. We hurridley followed and Amy immeditley went up the steps, searching for her husband._

_ ''Rory! Rory!,'' she called._

_ I saw her dash up the steps and I followed Dad. We approached an unconsious man. I looked at him, wondering how he got in that state while Dad looked up._

_ ''Sorry I'm late , honey. Traffic was hell.''_

_ Let the flirting commence, _I thought.

_ Mum's flirtatious laugh made me look up. Her attire was casual for her; a satin black dress and black heels. Her right hand was caught in an Angel's firm grasp._

_ That doesn't seem good, _I thought.

_Dad looked at the man for a moment, until he said, ''Shock. He'll be fine.''_

_ ''Not if I could get loose,'' she said._

_ Dad strutted _(that made his thought of ''I do not strut!'' pop up in my head; Mum, Dad and I have a telepathic connection, but we can control when we want each other's minds to be read) _towards her, straightening his beloved bow tie. _I followed him over and Mum greeted me.

I went over to the left side of her. She wrapped her free arm around my shoulder and said, ''Hello, Sweetie.''

''Hi, Mum. Are you okay?''

She gave me a reassuring grin and said, ''I'll be fine. Don't you worry, sweetheart.''

_Dad whispered in her ear on the other side of her, ''So where are we now, Doctor Song? How's prison?''_

I, not wanting to listen to another round of flirting, went over to one of the red chairs which sat at the corner of the room.

_''Oh, I was pardoned ages ago and it's Professor Song to you.''_

_ ''Pardoned?''_

_ ''Mm. Turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around deleting himself from every database in the universe.''_

_ He walked around to the other side of her and said, ''Hm. You said I got too big.''_

_ ''And no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be somebody?''_

_ ''Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?''_

_ ''Doctor Who?''_

You're very lucky that you're not in the position I'm in right now. Having to listen to your parents constantly flirt with each other is one of life's greatest punishments.

_He soniced her wrist and when he got the results, he said, ''She's holding you very tight.''_

_ ''At least she didn't send me back in time.''_

_ ''I doubt she's strong enough.''_

_ ''Well, I need a hand back. So which is it going to be? Are you going to break my wrist or hers?''_

_ He looked at her, giving her the answer and she said, ''Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?''_

_ ''Because Amy read it in a book and now I have no choice.''_

_ Amy came in the doorway and Dad said to her, ''You see?''_

_ ''Well what book?'' Mum asked._

_ ''Your book. Which we haven't written yet so we can't read,'' he said, taking the book out of his pocket, showing it to her._

_ She looked at it and said, ''I see. I don't like the cover much.''_

_ ''But if River's going to write a book, she'd make it useful, yeah?'' Amy asked._

_ ''Well I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead, it's too dangerous.''_

_ ''I know, but there must be something we can look at,'' Amy said._

_ Dad, who was sitting in the chair to the left of me, said, ''What, a page of handy hints? Previews, spoiler-free.''_

_ After a moment, Amy said, ''Chapter titles.''_

_ Dad opened it to the 'Table of Contents' page and after skimming through, he said, ''He's in the cellar.''_

_ ''Gimme,'' Amy said and Dad tossed her his sonic screwdriver. She ran downstairs to the cellar and Dad read the last couple of chapter titles._

_ After reading a certain one, he raged. He stood and paced angirly; his face was turning red._

_ ''Doctor, Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me! Doctor, Doctor, what is it? Tell me. Okay, I know that face. Calm down! Calm down! Talk to me! Doctor!,'' Mum pleaded._

_ He turned to her. He was clearly frusturated by the look on his face. ''No! You get your wrist out! You get your wrist out without breaking it!''_

_ He walked away and Mum yelled after him, ''How?''_

_ ''I don't know! Just change the future!''_

_ He walked down to the cellar._ Mum and I were the only ones in the room. Each of us stayed where we were in silence, probably trying to take in what just happened. It was the first time I'd seen Dad so angry like that and to be honest, it scared me. I stood and walked over to her, knowing that I was the only one who could do anything about her wrist.

''Just pull it out,'' she instructed me. I stood near the damage, but when I saw it, I just couldn't do it. I just... didn't want to hurt her.

''Please, Emma,'' she said calmly, having sensed my uneasy feeling about this, ''For my sake and for his.''

I took a deep breath and put my right hand on her forearm. After a few seconds of both of us pulling at it, her hand broke free. The damage was horrid. The wound stretched from the back of her hand to the bottom of her wrist. Blood dripped from it and just looking at it made me feel so bad. But I had to do it and we had to hide it from him. She didn't dare move it.

''Grab my overcoat. It's on the back of the chair.''

I went over to the chair to my left and grabbed it. I helped her put it on and she took out her scanner. She also picked up the book that laid on the chair that her overcoat was on. We walked through the hall to enterance room where Dad and Amy were. Dad was pacing back and forth while I joined Amy who was sitting on the steps. Right at that moment, I wanted to cry my eyes out because I felt so guilty, but this isn't the time for being guilty. Right now, I had to stay strong and feel guilty at everything else later.

_Mum looked at her scanner and said, ''He isn't back in time. I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not time. And it's not that far from here by the look of it.''_

_ ''You got out,'' Dad realised._

_ ''So where is he?'' Amy demanded._

_ ''Well, come on, come on! Where is he?'' Dad encouraged._

_ Mum looked up and said, ''If it was that easy I'd get you to do it.''_

_ ''How did you get your wrist out without breaking it?'' Dad asked._

I began to get very anxious at that question because if he finds out, he's probably gonna flip.

_ ''You asked. I did. Problem?''_

_ ''You just changed the future!'' Dad exclaimed._

_ ''It's called marriage, honey. Now hush! I'm working.''_

_ ''She's good, huh?'' Dad asked, sitting in between Amy and I,'' Oh! Have you noticed? Really, really good.''_

_ Mum looked up from her scanner and said, ''Ah! Wherever it is, it's within a few blocks. There's a car out front. Should we steal it?''_

_ ''Show me!'' he said, leaping from his seat, rushing forward and taking a tough grasp on Mum's injured hand._

_ She shouted in pain and it clearly etched on her face. Mum and I grew tense with worry and Dad looked at her with solemn feelings of distrust, anger and worry._

. . .

_''Okay, when both of the digits on both units reach zero, that's when we've got a lock,'' Dad explained to Amy who was standing near the door. He handed her Mum's Vortex Manipulator and scanner, then said, ''Go find Rory.''_

He turned to me and said, ''Emma, go with your grandmother.''

I didn't want to leave her because I was fearful of what he was going to do. I sat there and gave him a solemn look of loyalty towards her.

He gave me a look as solemn as mine and said as firm as he'd ever been with me, ''Go. Now.''

That kind of took me aback because I'm used to his quirky, child-like personality other than his dark side. I sighed, got up and walked over to where Amy was. I stood beside her, trying my hardest not to hear the conversation that was going on a few feet away from us.

_''Why did you lie to me?'' he asked her calmly._

_ ''When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year old, one does one's best to hide the damage.''_

_ ''It must hurt. Come here.''_

_ ''Yes. The wrist is pretty bad, too.''_

_ I glanced over for no more than two seconds and saw that regeneration energy was engulfing her hand._

_ ''No, no. No. Stop that! Stop that! Stop it!''_

_ ''There you go. How's that?''_

_ 'Well let's see, shall we?'' she asked and a moment after, I heard a loud slap. ''That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot!''_

_ ''River!''_

_ ''No! You embarrass me!,'' she said, getting up and storming off. _

_ Amy and I followed her as Dad yelled after her, ''River!''_

_ We stood on the steps and Amy put an arm around her._

_ ''Okay, why did you lie?'' she asked, putting the question more towards Mum than me._

_ She turned to her, which made Amy take her arm off her and said, ''Never let him see the damage. And never let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.''_

_ Both of the devices beeped and Amy said looking at them, ''He's at Winter Quay!''_

_ Dad ran out and we piled into the 1930's style car which was parked in front of the house. Mum drove, Dad was in the front seat and Amy and I were in the back. After a minute or so of driving, we reached the building. Once we got out of the car, Mum asked, ''Why would they send him here? Why not zap him back in time like they normally do?''_

_ ''We'll know that when we know what this place is,'' he answered._

_ ''Winter Quay,'' Amy said, looking up a flouescent red sign which was put at the top of the building._

** A/N: Okay, I lied. It's going to be split into three parts. Sorry! Reviews will make my day! : )**


	9. Chapter 9

Universal Impact

Chapter 9

A Final Farewell

3rd April 1938

Winter Quay/ Graveyard

_We rushed into the building and piled into the lift. Once we reached the second floor, Amy zoomed out of the lift, down the hall and yelled, ''Rory!''_

_ ''He's close,'' Mum assured her, still checking her scanner with her newly healed hand. Mum, Dad and I followed her._

_ ''Rory!,'' she yelled again. She found an opened door and entered it. _

_ ''Amy,'' Rory said in a relieved tone._

Once I saw that it was him, I ran in and hugged him. He gratefully recieved it. We parted after a few moments_ and Mum and Dad barged in._

_ ''Don't look at anything! Don't touch anything!'' Dad ordered while Mum shut the door._

_ ''Who's that?'' Amy asked, looking at an elderly man who was lying on the bed._

_ The man reached out to her and desperately said, ''Amy. Amy. Please.''_

_ He coughed and Amy came towards him. There's only one person it could be. I'm not liking where this is going at all. Amy grabbed his hand._

_ ''Amy... Amy, please,'' he said, coughing some more. She bent down beside the bed._

_ After a few moments of staring at him closely, she whispered, ''Rory?''_

_ The young Rory looked totally shocked and overwhelmed. His mouth hung open in disbelief._

_ ''Amy...,'' the old man whispered. He breathed a staggering breath, laid his head on the pillow, closed his eyes, and a that moment, he was no more. Amy let go of the man's lifeless hands._

_ ''Could someone please tell me what is going on?,'' Rory asked._

_ The rest of us stood there immoble with shock on our faces. I wanted to explain, but I was in too much of a shocked state to do so._

_ ''I'm sorry, Rory, but you just died,'' Dad explained simply._

_ ''This place is policed by Angels. Every time you try to escape, you get zapped back in time,'' Dad said._

_ ''So this place belongs to the Angels? They built it?'' Amy asked._

_ ''Displacing someone back in time creates time energy and that is what the Angels feed on. Normally it's a one-off. A hit and run. If they could keep hold of their victims, feed off of their time energy over and over again... This place is a farm. A battery farm. How many Angels are in New York?''_

_ ''It's like they've taken over every statue in the city,'' Mum answered._

_ ''The Angels take Manhattan because they can. Because they've never had a food source like this one. They City that Never Sleeps.''_

_ A loud banging noise was heard from above and Rory asked, ''What was that?''_

_ ''I don't know, but I think they're coming for you,'' Dad said._

_ ''What does that mean? What is going to happen to me? What is going to physically happen?'' _

_ Dad sat in a chair, put his hands in his face for a moment and then said, ''The Angels will come for you, they'll zap you back in time to this very spot- thirty, forty years ago. And you'll live out the rest of your life in this room. Until you die in that bed.''_

_ ''And Amy will be there?''_

_ ''No.''_

_ ''How do you know?'' Amy asked._

_ ''Because he was so pleased to see you again.''_

_ ''Okay. Well they haven't taken me yet. What if I just run? What if I just get the hell out of here? Then that never happens.''_

_ ''It's already happened, Rory. You just witnessed your own future.''_

_ ''Doctor, he's right,'' Mum said._

_ ''No, he isn't.''_

_ ''If Rory got out then it would create a paradox.''_

_ The banging noise resumed and Amy asked, ''What is that?''_

_ ''This is the Angel's food source. The paradox poisons the well. It could kill them all. This whole place would literally un-happen.''_

_ ''It would be almost impossible,'' Dad said._

_ ''I'm loving the almost, '' Mum said._

_ ''But to create a paradox like that would take almost unimaginable power. What have you got, eh? Tell me, come on.''_

_ Amy intertwined her fingers in Rory's hand, then said, ''I won't let them take him. That's what we've got.''_

_ ''Rory, even if you got out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life. They would be chasing you forever,'' Dad said._

_ ''Well then,'' Amy said, ''Better get started. Husband, run!''_

_ With that, they sprinted out the door._ Mum took my hand and I prepared to run.

_''River, I'm not sure this can work,'' Dad said._

_ ''Husband, shut up,'' she replied._

_ We ran for only a second before the lights flickered on and off and an Angel was in front of us, making us take a couple steps back._

''This is beginning to become one of the worst birthdays ever,'' I said with a bit of sarcasm in my voice.

_''I can't keep doing this,'' Dad said, trying to get the light fixture to work properly with his sonic._

_ ''Any ideas?'' Mum asked._

_ ''Yeah, the usual. Run.''_

_ The Angel disappeared and we ran down the hall. At least three angels were chasing us. We ran up four flights of stairs and found a fire escape. I climbed up first, then Dad, then Mum. Once I reached the top, I found Rory on the ledge and Amy climbed up beside him. I got off the ladder and when Dad saw what they were doing, he yelled, ''What the hell are you doing?!''_

_ ''Changing the future. It's called marriage,'' Amy said and they jumped off._

_ ''Amy! Amy!,'' Dad yelled, looking over the ledge._

_ Blue sparks caused by the paradox surrounded us and our surroundings._

_ ''Doctor, what's happening?'' Mum asked as he came over._

_ Mum took hold of my hand and Dad took hold of hers._

_ ''The paradox! It's working! The paradox is working!'' he yelled._

_ The light from the paradox englufed us and after I blinked, we were back in the graveyard. Dad was to my left and Mum was beside him. The TARDIS was behind us. Amy and Rory sat up in front of two gravestones which were about fifteen feet away from us._

_ ''Where are we?'' Rory asked._

_ Dad bounded over there excitedly like a ten year old running to the tree on Christmas morning and said, ''Back where we started! The paradox worked! You collapsed the timeline! We all pinged back where we belong!''_

_ ''What, in a graveyard?'' he asked._

_ ''That happened last time. Why always here?'' Amy asked with curiosity._

_ ''Does it matter? We got lucky! We could've blown New York off the planet. I can't ever take the TARDIS back there, the timelines are too scrambled. Oh... I could've lost you both,'' he said, hugging them, ''Don't ever do that again.''_

_ ''What did we do? We fixed it. We solved the problem,'' Rory said as Dad let them go and kissed the top of their heads._

_ ''It could do with a repaint,'' Mum said as she handed me a sponge from a soap bucket that she found to clean the TARDIS with, as it had become very worn from all of the day's past events. I spent the next few minutes cleaning the exterior of the ship with my parents._

_ ''I've been busy,'' Dad admitted as he cleaned it._

_ ''Does the bulb on top need changing?'' she asked._

_ ''Just changed it,'' he said._

_ ''So... Rory and Amy, then?''_

_ ''Yes, I know, I know...''_

_ ''Doctor?'' Rory asked him as they walked towards us._

_ ''Ha!'' he exclaimed, still impressed with what they did._

_ ''Look, next time, could we just go to the pub?''_

_ ''I want to go to the pub right now. Are there video games there? I love video games,'' he said._

_ Mum and I put our sponges in the soap bucket and she said as she put her arm around mine, ''Right. Family outing, then.''_

_ We entered the TARDIS and Dad and Amy followed. Rory called her name a few seconds later and she went back out._

_ A few seconds later, Amy's cry of, ''Doctor!'' echoed._

_ We ran out and an Angel was a few feet away from Amy. Its arm was stretched out towards her and Rory was nowhere to be found._

_ ''Where the hell did that come from?'' Mum asked Dad._

_ He soniced it and said, ''It's a survivor. Very weak, but keep your eyes on it.''_

_ ''Where's Rory?'' Amy asked him._

_ ''I'm sorry, Amelia. I'm so, so sorry.''_

_ ''No. No. We can just go and get him in the TARDIS. One more paradox.''_

_ ''Would rip New York apart,'' he said._

_ ''No. That's not true. I don't believe you.''_

_ ''Mother, it's true,'' Mum said._

_ She began to walk towards it and Dad asked, ''Amy, what are you doing?''_

_ ''That gravestone, Rory's, there's room for one more name, isn't there?''_

_ ''What are you talking about? Back away from the Angel. Come back to the TARDIS. We'll figure something out.''_

_ ''The Angel, would it send me back to the same time, to him?''_

_ ''I don't know. Nobody knows.''_

_ ''But it's my best shot, yeah?''_

_ ''No!''_

_ ''Doctor! Shut up! Yes, yes it is,'' Mum yelled._

_ ''Amy-''_

_ ''Well then, I just have to blink, right?''_

_ ''No!''_

_ ''It'll be fine. I know it will. I'll be with him like I should be. Me and Rory. Together... Melody,'' she called out to Mum._

_ She went over, grabbed hold of her hand and kissed the back of it._

_ ''Stop it! Just stop it!'' Dad yelled._

''Emma._ You be good girls and you look after him.''_

_ ''You are creating fixed time. I will never be able to see you again.''_

_ ''I'll be fine. I'll be with him.''_

_ ''Amy please. Just come back to the TARDIS. Come along, Pond. Please.''_

_ She turned around, looked at him for the last time and said, ''Raggedy man. Goodbye.''_

At that moment, I was officially grandparentless. The only positive thing that came from the experience was that I still got to see the past versions of them, but I couldn't tell them about New York. Not one word.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I'll give you a few teasers for the next chapter:**

** 1. ''You have a point... but you do get pretty emotional.''**

** 2. There's more than one villian in this story!**

** 3. A stone from a peticular planet makes an apperance.**

** 4. ''Everyone knows your name. Even the spirits.''**

** 5. Never underestimate the Doctor's daughter.**

** 6. Shades of 'Hide'.**

** 7. ''There's no such thing as a 'Dad Rulebook'.''**

** 8. Some major character development.**

** 9. ''There's an enormous amount of rift energy in this house...''**

** 10. They sure do have an interesting form of camoflauge!**


	10. Chapter 10

Universal Impact

Chapter 10

Ghosts of the Phantom

11th January 1947

Lake District/ Whitstone House

Dad and I sat on a porch that had a lakeside view. We admired the view while eating lunch. I was enjoying a piece of my fish when Dad asked, ''Have you ever been to Florida?''

''No. Why?''

''There's a new ride at the Harry Potter theme park. Do you want to go there after we're done eating?''

''Why are you spoiling me? It's eight months until my birthday.''

''I always spoil you. I have to spoil you. It's in the Dad Rulebook.''

''There's no such thing as a 'Dad Rulebook','' I said, putting air quotes around the words.

''Yeah there is. Rule number three,'' he said, taking a small book out of his interior pocket and handed it to me.

I took it and said with raised eyebrows, ''Seriously?''

''Seriously,'' he said as I opened up the rule three page.

I read:

'You must spoil your daughter. If she does not get her way, then be prepared to be subject to whining and complaining.'

I closed it, thrusted it at his chest and said, ''You're just... ridiculous.''

''Depending on the situation, yes,'' he said as he put it back in his pocket and we started to walk back to the TARDIS through the trail that was connected to the porch.

''You're insanely overprotective of me.''

We turned a corner through the woods as we found the blue police box that was parked next to a pine tree. Dad got the key out and as he turned the lock, he said, ''Especially of you.''

The door creeked open and we walked in as I said, ''And what daughter has a twelve hundred sixty year old Dad? I mean, that's just...so... grr!''

I slammed my fist on the console to the TARDIS's dislike.

''Oh no,'' Dad said, peeking out from behind the opposite side of the console, ''you're having an emotion, aren't you?''

''A what? What does that even mean emotion?''

''You know, the whole teenagery hormonaly thing.''

''Yes, yes I am. Why?''

''You sometimes get too emotional like your Mum does when she's at her time of the month.''

I took immediate offence and said, ''I do not! I never get emotional. Amy. Now Amy's the one that gets emotional!''

''You do have a point... but you do get pretty emotional.''

''I don't, Dad! I never let my stupid hormones get the best of me! The only reason I do is because I get it every eighteen days. I swear I'm the only girl in the universe that has to go through it twice a month thanks to my lovely Gallifreyan genes.''

While I was saying that, he ran around the console and flew the TARDIS into the time vortex. The second it landed, I rushed to the doors and opened them. I couldn't see anything; my surroundings were pitch black. I carefully stepped out. The floor beneath me creeked.

''I'm guessing we landed at the Tower of Terror mansion. But where are all the people?''

''Er... sorry. We're not in Flordia. The Whitstone House. 11th January 1947. In Cardiganshire, Wales,'' Dad said from inside the TARDIS.

He turned his sonic to the torch setting, which illuminated the room. The walls were wood; Victorian by the looks of it. Dad closed the door behind him and came near me.

He took out a small torch from his interior pocket, handed it to me and said, ''Here.''

I took it and turned it on. I looked around the room. The TARDIS landed at the back of the room near an old stone fireplace. The front of the room was the wall, but two wide hallways were to the left and right of it.

Suddenly, I had the feeling that someone was behind me and the room became significantly colder. I turned around to find that no one was there.

''Dad, we need to get out of here. I feel like this place is haunted. The room... it's colder.''

He quickly scanned the whole room for any abnormalities.

''There is an enormous amount of rift energy in this house, which means-''

''Ghosts,'' I said.

''Possibly, but you never know until you find them. They could lead us to the source of the rift energy. Alright, I'll go this way. You go that way. Let me know if you find anything.''

He walked to the back of the room and opened the door which lead to another room. I sighed and walked out of the room towards the right hallway. I walked through it nervously and took staggering breaths. I noticed that their were no light fixtures, but the only thing at the end of the hall was a large portrait of a woman with black hair and solemn dark brown eyes. Her tall and slender figure intimidated me even in portrait form. She was dressed in a Victorian gown.

I spun around once I heard a woman's victorious cackle. A pair of bright eyes met mine and I shrieked loudly, dropping my torch in the process.

''Emma!,'' I heard Dad yell from the other room.

I sprinted through the hallway and went into the room. Dad ran through the door and stopped in the middle of the room, looking around with worry on his face.

''Emma? Where are you?,'' he asked.

''Behind you,'' I answered.

He turned around and faced me, but for some reason he didn't see me.

''Where?''

''I'm right here. Can't you see me?''

''No, but how can I hear you?''

''I'm not sure. I'm in the room, but what's-''

I stopped talking because a few feet in front of him stood me, but my eyes weren't blue, they were brown. The woman's eyes. In the portrait. She must've stolen my body. How can ghosts do that?

''A new body,'' she said. My lips were moving, but her voice was coming out of my mouth. ''One hundred years and finally a new body. I'm no longer a lingering, wandering spirit. With this new body, I will be able to complete my noble work!''

''Give her body back! Please! Surely you have descendants who could finish the work?''

''My family cursed the work I did. I occupied their bodies, but they were of no use to me.''

''So you're a ghost, then?'' Dad asked.

''I am a phantom. In order for me to complete my work, I must occupy people's bodies.''

''Aren't ghosts and phantoms the same thing? What type of work do you do?''

''Phantoms can steal people's bodies, while ghosts go through them. I'll demonstrate for you.''

My (or her, in this case) eyes glowed a bright white colour as the woman's soul transferred to Dad's body. He yelled in pain and the gleaming white light rushed into his body. Just before I was sent back into my body, I saw Dad open his eyes. The white light shown for a second, and then the woman's brown eyes appeared. I felt myself being forced into my body and one second later, I blinked and moved my fingers. I checked to see if every body part was there as if I had just regenerated.

''Woah,'' I said, blinking a few times.

''That's just the beginning,'' the woman said. It was weird but slightly comical hearing a woman's voice come out of Dad's mouth.

''You alright, Emma?'' Dad asked me. By the sound of his voice, I could tell he was only a few feet away from us.

''Yeah. You?''

''I'm okay. Just trying to get used to the fact that I'm invisible.''

''Are you related to him?'' the woman asked me.

''Yeah. He's my Dad.''

''I thought so. You look a lot alike.''

A loud banging noise was heard upstairs, like someone was trapped and trying to escape.

''It's starting,'' the woman said as she controlled Dad's body, making him sprint through the door at the back of the room and run up the stairs.

''What is?'' I asked, standing there.

I caught up with the body stealing phantom on the third floor. I walked up the steps and I found that the floor was littered with papers, candle holders and pieces of wood which was torn from the wall. No one was around. The door at the end of the hall almost burst off its hinges. A bright white light shown from it. It was like people were trying to get out, banging on it desperately.

''Emma! This way!'' the phantom said from the other end of the hall.

I ran to the doorway as quickly as possible. Once I was in the room, I shut the door behind me. I was in a bedroom that had collected dust from being unused for years. A desk was in the corner and a bed with red sheets sat opposite the desk.

I sat in a chair while Dad (who was to the right of me) asked, ''I know this sounds weird, but can I have my body back?''

Soon after the paranormal metamorphasis took place, Dad took out his sonic and soniced the invisible phantom. The phantom appeared in a bodily form. The woman I saw in the portrait now stood before us.

''Now that that's done and over with, I'm the Doctor and you've already met Emma. Let's get to the facts, shall we? Who are you and why are you doing this?''

She sat down on the bed and sighed before speaking, ''My name is Elizabeth Whitstone. In 1789, my family owned this house, for my father was a wealthy banker. This house has been occupied by my family for generations and all of them had died here. We had few visitors because everyone thought that this house was haunted. Everyone but us thought it was. One day, I was in my room reading when a voice called out my name. I felt a pair of hands grab me for a couple of seconds and then they let go. From then on, I dedicated my life to hunting them. As I said, my family cursed the work I did. Soon after, the ghosts changed me into a phantom, rewarding me that I knew they existed. In order to hunt for other ghosts, I had to occupy living people's bodies. And now, my family is seeking to murder me because I've opened the portal to the World of the Dead, allowing access to the most feared beings in the world.''

''And how did it open?,'' Dad asked.

''Phantoms aren't allowed to exist, as we control people's bodies until their bodies can't take our occupation. Word of my existence spread and other ghosts came by the dozen, demanding that I had to be killed. I managed to lock up some of them, but there are too many.''

''Where is the portal?''

''In the forest at the back of the house. You're not going to go out there, are you?''

He approached her and said,''It's the only way to convince them that you're innocent. The only reason you're a phantom is because they turned you into one. Now if I can negotiate and try and understand their side of this, I can convince them to make peace with you.''

He began to walk out, but she stopped him, ''You can't open the portal without me.''

Dad turned around and said, ''Right. Since the ghosts are able to see you, we need something to shield you with.''

''Camoflauge,'' I said as he pointed at me and grinned, proud and impressed.

. . .

We walked out into the forest with Elizabeth hiding in my body. She walked in front of us. She focused on a certain spot around some trees and closed her eyes tight. Seemingly out of nowhere, a bright portal appeared. It was so bright that I thought my eyeballs were melting.

Suddenly, my mind felt like it was being violated or broken into. The pain was unbearable. I yelled in pain as I put my hands to my forehead, falling to my knees as I yelled out more.

A man's voice cackled and said, ''Here she is. The girl we've been waiting so long for. She's finally here.''

I yelled and shrieked in agony and once I had the strength to speak, I yelled, ''Who are you?! What do you want with me?!''

''Stop! Just stop what you're doing to her, Ciaphas!,'' Elizabeth yelled, which almost immediately stopped the pain.

I lay down on the ground and took deep breaths. My soul went back into my body and after that happened, I stumbled on to the ground. Dad rushed to my side and felt my forehead.

''You didn't fool me, Elizabeth,'' the invisible being said confidently. ''I know why you are here. You want peace with the spirits that created you. And we are not going to negotiate with you that easily, Doctor.''

Once my vision cleared, the portal was open, but all I could see was darkness inside of it.

''How do you know my name?'' he asked the spirit.

''Everyone knows your name. Even the spirits.''

''So you're like the Ruler of the Dead, huh? In your laws, phantoms aren't allowed to exist, but your kind created her to be a phantom. Why? Who's really controlling you?''

''There's another being controlling him? Controlling the spirits?'' Elizabeth asked shockingly.

''Of course there is. There's always someone behind every evil being, every evil plot. So, come on, come to Doctor!''

A bright light appeared in the portal and engulfed the entire perimetre around us. I felt as if I was being sucked through the portal, like something was pulling us in. I landed with a thud on the hard dirt floor. I breathed in dust and once I got up, I realised that I was alone.

''Dad? Elizabeth?'' I yelled.

No one answered. I was in a wide corridor and my surroundings were horrid. Dozens of skeletons littered the floor near the wall.

''Gross,'' I said, starting to walk through the corridor.

''He's coming,'' I heard the ghosts whisper in my ear.

Nothing could've prepared me for what I saw next as I turned the corner. A grotesque looking figure hid in the darkness. Its bright white eyes saw me and the figure changed form. The deformed ghost-human turned white and at the speed of light ran to me and circled me, looking at my every detail. The white light had sort of a foggy look to it, while still very bright.

''You're the ruler, aren't you? You've been hiding from your own kind, occupying innocent people's bodies as refuge. They didn't want her to exist because you were the only phantom that had to exist. The banging on the door, the mess on the floor... the ghosts were trying to get you, but you narrowly escaped and came here.''

''Correct,'' he said in a calm voice, ''Very clever girl. Elizabeth has to die, you know? I'm killing her right now. Every second, her body is getting closer to withering away into nothing. You're the final link I have to destroy her.''

Before I could protest, I felt him occupy my body and control it. My head throbbed as my mind was being overthrown by an evil phantom. My soul didn't leave my body like before, everything that was mine became his.

. . .

However many minutes later, I had the wind knocked out of me. His soul came out of my body and within three seconds, my body was once again mine. I stumbled on my feet, and when my vision focused, I knew that the Ruler of the Dead had occupied my father's body.

The second after, I realised that I was back in the forest. Dad's body was the same, but his eyes were a bright white light. I looked around for Elizabeth and found her limp figure sitting upright beside a tree. I rushed to her, checked her pulse and the result was one slow beat, and then nothing. She weakly reached over to her side. I followed her movements as she picked up a blue stone. She picked it up and put it in my hand. That was her last action.

A tear fell down my cheek as I took it from her. She breathed her last breath, then disappeared in a burst of white light. I turned around and faced the Ruler of the Dead confidently.

''The Girl of Two Worlds. The Last Time Child. We meet for the first and final time.''

''You didn't have to kill her. She wanted to make peace with you... and you killed her. You know you're going to die here... I feel bad for you. I know what it's like after traveling with my Father, seeing him face his enemies. Now... I want him back!''

I held the blue stone in front of him and it illuminated. The light coming from the stone had some sort of forceful energy to it. His soul came out of Dad's body and into the stone. The soul was trapped in it and it turned scorching hot in temperature, which made me drop it. I heard a thud and Dad laid on the ground. I rushed over and fell on my knees. I put my ear to his hearts and heard they were beating strong. I pulled out his sonic from his interior pocket, got up on my feet and scanned the stone.

I extended it and the results I got showed that it was a stone from Metebelis III. A second later, I saw it light up again and a white light burst from it. I was knocked down on the ground from the explosive force of it and I accidentally fell on Dad's right hand. That reminded me that I had to protect him and that I had something to fight for.

I looked up and every ghost was bursting out of the stone and combining, forming one gigantic ghost. It charged towards me and with the sonic still extended, my right hand on the ground trying to protect him, I clicked the button and the bright green light had a small effect on the creature that came towards me.

My left thumb hurt after holding the button in for a few seconds. I yelled out forcefully, reversing the pull of the force.

''You will not defeat me, Emma Song,'' it said in a creepy deep voice.

It rushed towards me, making my arm pull back, but I was shaking, desperate to give back the lost energy. I forced it back into me, which made the energy burst through and the green light engulfed the ghost. I forced myself to get up off the ground and walked forward. The ghost was yelling out, hating the foreign green light which blinded it. A portal appeared behind the ghost and as I walked forward, planting my feet firmly into the ground with every step, I said, ''There's one thing you need to know. Never... underestimate... me.''

I forced the ghost into the portal as it imploded into a mix of green and white light. The wind made my hair flow back and the only sound after was the buzzing of the screwdriver. I let go of the button and put it back into his pocket. He was still unconsious. I pulled him back towards the edge of the forest for a minute until I ran into something. I looked behind me and the TARDIS stood there as if she was waiting for us. I touched the door, and the moment I did, gold light appeared on my hand and I heard the door unlock.

Oh, right, I had forgotten I had a connection with her. I pushed the door open and dragged Dad up the steps on to the floor after closing it. I ran up the steps and looked at the console in bewilderment. But then, I remembered that Dad told me that if I needed to fly her, she would teach me how.

I touched the console and said, ''Are you there, old girl?''

A slightly distorted sound gave me my answer.

''I need to know how to fly you. Can you teach me?''

Information immediatley zapped into my head. I moved the zig zag plotter, typed in the co-ordinates, pulled down the pressure stabiliser, pressed the blue stabilisers and ripped down the engine starter a bit too hard. She jolted into the time vortex forcefully. I held on to a part of the console tightly and put my right foot on the break, trying to slow her down a bit.

_I'm flying her! I'm actually flying the TARDIS!_, I thought excitedly.


	11. Chapter 11

Universal Impact

Chapter 11

A New Start

2nd November 2009

the TARDIS/ Park Vale Comprehensive School

''Emma, please! You haven't been in school for a year and I think it would be very beneficial for you to at least finish it up,'' Mum said, following after me.

I frusturatingly walked in front of her. The moment she had suggested I finished school, I was searching for Dad, trying to see what he thinks of it.

As I walked down the steps that led to the console room, I said, ''I told you I don't want to! And even if I did, I would be far behind! Dad, tell her that I don't have to finish up school! Please...''

He came out from under the console as I said this. He looked from her to me. I gave him big sad eyes and frowned displeasingly, trying to bribe him into not letting me go.

He gave me a sad look and said, ''Emma... I'm sorry. We made the descision a few days ago and we think that it would be good for you to get it over with.''

''What?! You made a choice for me? I just... can't believe this. I'm not going... I'm not going.''

''Only two more years. It's no big deal. The worst thing you have to worry about are GCSE's.''

''No big deal? You call school no big deal? Oh please, I'd like for you to even survive a day at my old school.''

''What was it like then?'' he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the console.

''Absolutley horrible. I won't go into detail, but let's just say it's not the best school in England.''

''Well, you're in luck because we got you in to one of the best secondary schools in the country,'' he said, walking over to the screen, ''Park Vale Comprehensive School. It's one of the best schools for art, design and science.''

''Seems pretty decent, but please tell me I don't have to retake some of my core classes. IT was a complete bore.''

''No, but you're going to have to move forward to Year Nine so you can finish up Key Stage Three,'' he said. ''You'll go tomorrow with me to do some testing so you can be put into the right classes.''

I moaned because I hate taking tests. Most of the stuff is easy, it's just that I'm a bad test taker.

''I told you she would act like this,'' Mum said to Dad in a whisper.

''Oi! I heard that!''

I slumped in a chair and crossed my left leg over my right leg. I sighed and frowned at my parents. Mum came over to me and said, ''I know you don't want to do this, but we think if you're done with high school, then that will give you an opportunity to get a job, settle down if you want to.''

''But that's the point! I don't want to settle down! Ever since I've been travelling like this, I've wanted to explore new places, do everything that life has to offer and not sit in a desk learning about pointless things like how to solve quadratic equations and how Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems!''

They were shocked at my knowledge of this, and Dad asked, ''How did you know all of that?''

''I'm Gallifreyan, remember?''

''You knew how to solve quadratic equations in Year Eight?''

''Yeah. I was the only kid who was in Algebra 1 in my year. I would've been in Algebra 2 last year, but my test grades were bad.''

. . .

We dropped Mum off at Stormcage. As the alarm was blaring, she quickly hugged me and said in my ear, ''You're going to do great. I know it.''

Then she walked into her cell and closed the door. We went back in, Dad flew her into the time vortex and said, ''You'd better get to bed. You have a pretty long few days ahead of you.''

''Thanks for reminding me,'' I said in a sarcastic tone as I trudged up the steps and began walking through the corridors to my room.

The lights automatically turned on once I entered. I layed down on my bed, exhausted from arguing with them about such a stupid thing. I kicked off my shoes and rubbed my feet, as they had been aching all day. I got up off the bed, bent down and opened the long, wide drawer where my pajamas are. I quickly got dressed and went into my private bathroom. I brushed my teeth and five minutes later, I was in my bed wide awake. I didn't feel tired, but I wasn't full of energy. I just couldn't sleep. I put my hands behind my head and admired the realistic (yet holographic) constellations and galaxies.

In that moment, I wanted to march down to the console room and force Dad to let me not go to school. I have so so _so_ much to discover in the universe and yet I have been forced to go to the solitary confinment facility known as school. I mean, what am I going to get out of sitting in a desk for six hours when I can save the universe from maniacs that want to destroy Earth? After a few minutes, I felt my eyes get heavy with fatigue and I fell asleep.

. . .

I sat in reception taking the chemistry test while Dad was in the waiting room filling out my information. Since I obviously didn't want to introduce him as 'the Doctor', he's using his pseudonym of John Smith. I was in the teacher's conference room. The chair I sat in was leather and it was the perfect place anyone could fall asleep in, espically if you were taking a test. An array of windows were to the right of me, which didn't really help because I easily get distracted.

I was punching in numbers on my calculator, trying to find out the solution for a rather lengthy chemical equation when the principal, Mr. Chandra, came in. He had dark hair, a dark skinned complextion and seemed to always have a smile on his face.

''Emma, just to let you know the maths portion is next. How far along are you on that?''

''I only have three more questions to do,'' I answered.

''Okay, well let me know when you're finished,'' he said as he walked out.

I resumed working and fifteen minutes later, I was on to the maths portion. Most of the material was fairly easy, but the only part that stumped me was how to solve radicals. Once I finished that, I went into Mr. Chandra's office and handed him the packet, pencil and calculator he provided me with.

''Now that you're done with the testing, I need you to fill out this form,'' he said, handing me a form with each course's levels on it.

''The core subjects are pretty self-explanatory, while you can pick up to two electives. Just to warn you, biology and chemistry are double periods so you can only pick one elective, considering that we only have six period days here at Park Vale.''

He gave me a pen with the school's name on it and I studied the paper. For the English category, I circled World Literature. For maths, I chose Algebra II and for science, I circled chemistry. I contemplated on wether to do cooking or drama for my elective. After a few minutes on mentally arguing with myself, I chose cooking.

I gave him the paper back. He skimmed my results, then said, ''Everything seems to be in order. I'll match your test scores and make any changes to your schedule if needed. You'll come here tomorrow to pick up your schedule and be escorted to your tutor room. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I assume you already have your uniform, then?''

I was about to explain when Dad came in with a stack of papers in his hand.

''Yes, she does. We got it a few days ago,'' he said, handing him the papers.

''Good. Well, we're glad having you here, Emma. I 'm looking forward to hear about your academic sucess. Mr. Smith,'' he said, extending a hand out to Dad.

He shook it firmly and we walked out of his office. We walked to the enterance and when Dad opened the door, I asked him,''Did you really get my uniform?''

''Yeah,'' he answered, ''It looks rather dull, though.''

''Well what do you expect, it's a uniform,'' I said as we crossed the car park.

A small blue car came up to the curb and he looked curiously at it as a boy about my age got out of the car. He entered the school hurridley.

''Dad?,'' I asked, furrowing my brow.

He stared at the car for a long while before saying to himself, ''I know that car... come on, back to the TARDIS.''

We watched the car zoom across the car park, then it drove on to the main road.

''Do you know that person?'' I asked, still looking at the place where the car just was. I turned around, expecting to face him, but he was nowhere in sight. I sighed, annoyed that he always does this to me. I walked in the direction of the football field, which was where we parked the TARDIS and thankfully she was still there.

I walked in and immediatley demanded of him, ''Don't keep doing that! You scare me half to death! Who was that? I know you know them.''

''No one. You don't need to worry about your old Dad. And speaking of your uniform, I have it right here,'' he said, going down the steps, pulling up a storage compartment and rummaged around in it. After a minute or so, he got out my uniform and came back up the steps.

I grabbed it from him and he said, ''Go try it on. Make sure it fits.''

''Do we have to get a rucksack?''

His face fell as he realised he didn't get one and said, ''After you try that on we'll get one.''

''Wow, Dad, the most important thing you need for school and you forgot it. Why does that not surprise me?''

''I'm sorry, Emma, but I told you we'll get it. Just please try it on.''

I groaned as I marched up the steps. Dad immitated it and I groaned even more. I went into my room and changed quickly. Once i did, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I wore a black skirt, black pantyhose, black leather shoes, a white overshirt and a navy striped tie. I went back into the console room and Dad grinned once I came down the steps.

''You look good,'' he commented.

''I look... bleh,'' I said, looking down at my outfit.

''No, you seriously look good in it. Alright, you can take it off now.''

I gave him a confused look and he said immediatley, ''You know what I meant.''

I went up to my room and as I changed, I couldn't help but think about how much my life has changed in this past year.


	12. Chapter 12

Universal Impact

Chapter 12

I'm an Alien Magnet

3rd November 2009

Park Vale Comprehensive School

The TARDIS landed behind the school and I began to get very anxious. Dad put down the emergency brake and when he saw how nervous I was, he came over.

''There's nothing you need to worry about. You'll be fine.''

I gave him a slight grin and began to walk out when he stopped me.

''I almost forgot. I have something for you.''

I turned around and found him holding a brand new sonic screwdriver out to me. It was a silver colour and it was long and thin. The tip had a blue LED light. I stared at it open mouthed.

''What... how,'' I said in disbelief.

''The TARDIS created it. I added all the settings on it last night. Go ahead. Try it out,'' he said as I took it from him. I pressed the button on it and the tip lit up a brilliant light blue colour. I checked the extention and put it in my pocket.

''Thanks,'' I said gladly.

''I'm glad you like it. Have a great first day.''

''See you tonight,'' I said as I walked out the door.

I shut the door behind me and as I walked towards the front of the school, I heard the wheezing of the engines in my ears. At the enterance, kids of every shape and size were squeezing through the small doors. Some of the kids noticed I came from the back and gave me weird looks, but I just ignored them. Once I finally entered, I went into reception.

I approached the front desk and the secretary asked, ''How can I help you?''

''I'm Emma Song. It's my first day here and I was told to come here to pick up my schedule.''

She looked through her records and when she found my name she said, ''Oh, yes, Emma.''

She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me, ''There you are. I was also informed by Mr. Chandra that you'll be escorted to your tutor room, so have a seat. Mrs. Ash will come and collect you momentarily.''

''Alright, thanks,'' I said. I sat in a red chair that sat against the wall.

The late bell for tutor room rang once I sat down. I reviewed my schedule and a few minutes later, a woman with black hair and brown eyes came through the door. She approached me and asked, ''You're Emma, right?''

''Yeah.''

''I'm Mrs. Ash. Your tutor room is room 38 in the English wing.''

I got up and she escorted me to the back of the school towards the English wing. Once we entered, everyone's attention turned to me. Mrs. Ash introduced me to the class and then left. I sat in a desk near a girl with dark skin, dark hair and brown eyes.

''Hi,'' she said once I sat down.

''Hey,'' I said.

''I'm Rani Chandra.''

Her last name seemed familiar and once it clicked, I said, ''Your Dad's the principal? That must be rough.''

''Yeah. It's not that bad, really. How do you like it so far?''

''Well, everyone seems to be more than overly helpful, so it's pretty good so far. The only problem is I have no clue where I'm going.''

''Can I have a look at your schedule?''

I handed it to her and after studying it, she said, ''Well this was unexpected. We have every class together except cooking.''

''Really? This day officially got better. Are the teachers nice?''

''Mostly, but the chemistry teacher, Mrs. Barks, is kind of strict.''

The bell for first period rang and Rani and I walked to English together. It only took about twenty seconds to get there, which was good. Once I got my textbook and the teacher introduced me, we started reading Great Expecations by Charles Dickens. I literally almost fell asleep from how boring it was. Next was cooking, so Rani walked me there and she went off to PSHE. The cooking room was huge. At the back were tables and at the front, there were four kitchens.

Once I entered, I sat beside a tall boy with brown hair and blue eyes. He stared at me like I was a godess or something. I looked at him weirdly and asked, ''What?''

He snapped out of it and said, ''Oh, nothing... sorry.''

After the bell rang, he introduced himself, ''I'm Luke Smith.''

''Emma Song,'' I introduced myself for the hundreth time that day.

Sadly, the teacher made me read safety instructions the whole period while everyone else made garlic bread, although I did get to have some that Luke made.

''What do you have next?'' he asked.

I took my schedule out of my pocket and said, ''Algebra with Mr. Cooper.''

''I have Algebra next period, so.. do you want to walk with me?''

''Sure,'' I said.

Luke and I were on our way to Algebra when Rani caught up with us.

''Hey guys. How was cooking?''

''I had to look over safety instructions the whole period,'' I said.

''We made garlic bread. How was PSHE?,'' he asked her.

The three of us entered the classroom. I sat beside Rani and Luke sat in front of me.

''It was okay. All we did was take notes the whole period on mental disorders,'' she said, taking out the homework.

The bell rang and Mr. Cooper came in. He looked about 24 or 25. He had a clean cut beard, spiky black hair and calm blue eyes. He noticed me and said, ''I'm Mr. Cooper. You must be Emma.''

He walked over to the desk, grabbed a piece of paper and the Algebra II textbook. He handed them to me and said, ''Here's the syllubus and your textbook. You don't have to bring it everyday, just on the days I tell you to.''

''Thanks,'' I said as I took them from him. The book was very heavy and I compared it to the weight of a brick.

Mr. Cooper walked over to the smartboard and clicked on it with the pen.

''Alright, everyone. We have a new student who moved here from Yorkshire. Her name is Emma and I expect you to treat her nicely. Now, on to last night's homework...''

For the next ten minutes, he went over the homework in great detail. He then cllicked on the powerpoint and notes came up. He pressed the 'from beginning' button with the pen and the slide came up. I asked Rani for a piece of paper. She gave me one and for the next twenty minutes, we took notes on matrices.

After we were done taking notes, he said, ''For your homework, it's pages 35 and 36, numbers 1 to 14 and 28 to 39. You have about ten minutes to get it started, so I wouldn't chat if I were you.''

Ten minutes later, Rani, Luke and I rushed to put our things in our rucksacks. We practically sprinted to lunch because, according to Rani, people have to fight for seats. The diner shocked me because it's a small room about the size of two classrooms put together and close to 800 kids are trying to get a seat. We got in line and once we were served, we looked around for about five minutes until we found three seats in the corner of the room.

''Where's Clyde? I haven't seen him all day,'' Luke said once we sat down.

''His Mum said he was sick when I went over to his house,'' she said.

''That's too bad,'' he said.

At the other end of the diner, I thought someone was looking at me, but when I looked over, no one was there. After we ate, I compared my schedule with them. I have chemistry with Rani for the next two periods while Luke has P.E. and English. The bell rang and all at once, eight hundred kids rushed to the double doors. It took a minute or so for us to get out.

''See you,'' Luke said to us as he walked towards what I think is the P.E. and PSHE wing.

Rani and I walked to the science wing, which was at the left corner of the school. I entered the chemistry classroom. At the front was the teacher's desk. Aligning the walls were cabinets and a couple of sinks. There were four long tables serving as desks. Rani and I sat in the second row. Some of the kids were sitting on tables, talking to their friends. There were about 22 kids, including me. As soon as the bell rang, a short woman with brown hair, brown eyes and a seemingly laidback but strict persona came into the room.

''Alright everyone,'' she said as the other kids scrambled to their seats, ''get your notes out from yesterday. We have a tonne to do today. Yes, Rani?''

Beside me, Rani was raising her hand. She put it down once the teacher called on her and said, ''Aren't you forgetting something?''

Rani looked to me, indicating that I was new and when she realised what she forgot, her eyes grew wide and she said, ''Oh! Yes, class this is Emma Song. She just moved here from Yorkshire. Make her feel welcome. I have a textbook for you somewhere... oh, here it is.''

She pulled the chemistry textbook from the drawer, walked over and put it on my desk.

''You can get the notes from Rani. They're just doing a paper on nonpolar molecules today,'' she told me.

She walked up to her desk, got a pile of papers from on top of it and as she passed it out, she said, ''You're allowed to use your notes for this, but work independently. We'll go over it once the bell rings for sixth period.''

Rani gave me her notes and once I started copying them, I felt kind of uncomfortable. I put my pencil down, got out of my seat, went up to the teacher and asked, ''Can I use the loo?''

She looked up and said, ''Sure, but make it quick.''

I started to walk away when a man's voice stopped me.

''I'm surprised you haven't figured it out by now.''

I walked back to the desk and said, ''Sorry, what?''

''I said you can go,'' she said.

''Oh you're so like your Dad. Figuring it all out at the last minute,'' the man's voice said. My chemistry teacher's lips were moving, but the man's voice was coming out.

_This day is beginning to get weirder and weirder_, I thought. I looked behind me and everyone was busy doing the paper like they hadn't noticed anything. I walked to the door and went out into the corridor. I entered the girls' toilet and once I came out of the stall, I went over to the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. I suddenly saw someone behind me. I quickly turned around to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, but no one was there. A zap made me flinch to my right. A man with a pudgy face, red hair, a suit and a bow tie was to the right of me.

''Who are you?'' I demanded, still shocked. My hearts were still beating out of my chest.

''They call me the Dream Lord.''

''They? Who's they? What do you need me for?''

''I've seen your dreams. You've shown me that you're smart enough to pass my test. You will be sent to two worlds. Your fears and dreams will be revealed in both and you will be pushed to your limits. Are you ready to begin, Emma Song?''

''You can't do this to me. I'm not gonna be your lab rat. You know what, Dream Lord? I have one thing to say to you: I'm the Doctor's daughter, you're insane and I'm going to persuade you.''

I was looking straight in his face when I said that.

''Well then,'' he said, ''Persuade me.''

**A/N: Hello again! The feedback for this is just.. incredible. Thank you so much! And just to let you know, I'll probably post the next chapter some time tomorrow night.**


	13. Chapter 13

Universal Impact

Chapter 13

Realisation

3rd November 2009

Park Vale Comprehensive School

He left the room with a zap. For a moment, I questioned if this Dream Lord was real or a realistic figment of my vivid imagination. I washed my hands and the moment I walked out of the room, I found myself in the chemistry classroom.

''O...kay. This is weird,'' I said.

''Go on. Have a little stroll down the corridor,'' the Dream Lord said behind me.

I did as he said and as I walked down the corridors, I realised that the school was empty. I reached the P.E. wing and found Luke in the gym. He was dressed in a Park Vale t-shirt and nylon shorts. He seemed scared until he saw me approach him.

''Emma... how did I get here? One second, we were playing volleyball and another second, everyone's gone. How come we're the only ones here?''

''I have no clue. You didn't come across the Dream Lord, did you?''

He furrowed his brow and said, ''Dream Lord?''

A zap was heard behind us and once we turned around, our adversary said, ''Why hello, Luke. Don't you two look good together. You didn't think I would make you go through this alone, did you, Emma?''

''Well, in a way, yes. And we're not dating. We just met each other a few hours ago.''

''I didn't ask if you were. I forgot to mention, I can read minds, as well as dreams.''

Luke blushed slightly and the Dream Lord continued his rant.

''If you were wondering, the challenge is still the same, but as you know, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I would love to use on you two. For example...''

A loud sound was heard. We covered our ears because it pierced our eardrums. I looked up and the room was pulling apart between us. Luke became a distorted blur as the Dream Lord transported us to our own personal dimensions. I landed with a thud on the ground. I painfully stood up and realised I was standing on nothing but black ground. All around me was darkness. I jumped on the ground to make sure it was stable. I spun around and in front of me stood an old man with white hair in a suit. I jumped back, startled. He didn't speak or move. I turned around and ten other men stood a few feet away from me, forming a circle. They were all looking at me solemnly.

To my right, stood Dad. He looked very solemn for some reason. All of then had that look in their eyes like they were expecting something great from me. Not a physical object, but something like loyalty or bravery. I now realised who the men were. This is the thing I fear the most. Not living up to his expectations. My emotions exploded and I sat down, put my knees up to my chin and cried because I felt so... overwhelmed, unworthy of my ability and most of all, I felt like they all overestimated me.

I heard the Dream Lord appear behind me and I said, ''Why are you doing this to me? Just stop torturing me. _Just stop it!_''

''What is that? Do I hear the Doctor's daughter giving up? I thought you would last much longer than this. Well, if you really can't take it-''

''No! I want to keep going until I persuade you to stop intruding people's thoughts and dreams! Come on, what's next?''

He was slightly taken aback at my change in emotion and said, ''Wow you're determined. I mean really. You're Dad isn't as near as determined as you and from what I've seen he's the most determined person I've met.''

''You've met him before? When?''

He made a circle around me and he said, ''Long time ago. But just in case you were wondering their tests were a lot different than yours... So, Luke Smith, then. He must mean a lot to you.''

''Er... I guess... I mean he's nice and all, but-''

''But he fell in love with you the second he saw you. Your thoughts about him are screaming that you have an attraction to him.''

''I only like him as a friend.. sure, he's cute... and I want our friendship to last a long time before we go into anything like that.''

''Ohh Emma. You're pretty stubborn. You know what I'll do? I'll put you two love birds together, and test you both. See how you two do under pressure.''

As soon as he said that, I was transported to a random corridor in the school.

''Emma! Where are you?'' I heard Luke yell about a hundred metres away from me.

''Luke!,'' I yelled, turning around, trying to guess where he would be. I ran in the direction I thought would lead me to him. I ran through the corridor and once I turned the corner, I found that I was back in the corridor I was in a minute ago.

I sighed in frustration. My adversary came behind me and said, ''You still don't get it, do you? You're standing on their base. And you will be the one to set them free.''

I knew who he was. Grr I'm so stupid! How could I not figure this out so much sooner?

''How many people have you lured here in this trap like you lured me? How many people have fallen victim to this?,'' I demanded.

''Not many. The majority of people here can't see me, but those who do... let's just say they go into a sort of hibernation.''

''I knew it was you all along. Please. Don't do this to me. There's always another way.''

''You have to. . . . . Do you feel your eyes getting all droopy? You've been through so much today. I think you better have a little nap.''

I felt myself fall to the ground without protest and closed my eyes. I couldn't see, hear or feel anything until a couple minutes later.


	14. Chapter 14

Universal Impact

Chapter 14

Dreamer's Awakening

3rd November 2009

Dreamer's Base

(underneath the school)

Memories and knowledge were whizzing through my head. Everything I'd ever remembered or learned. The second it stopped, my eyes shot open and I sat up. I was in a completely white room on the floor. Something was plastered to the left side of my face and it stung like a wasp's venemous sting.

I yelled out in pain as I put my hand to my face. Metal wires stretched from the middle of my forehead to my jaw bone. I felt them spread on my cheek bone and the whole device changed. Some parts made round lights and the ends just stretched like the device was forming something. I screamed in agony and rolled over on the floor.

''Your mind, Emma. It's very intriguing, very astounding,'' the Dream Lord said.

''Stop! What's happening to me?!''

''It's time for them to wake.''

I painfully got up and stumbled over to the door. It opened horizontally and once I was on the other side, I fell to the floor. I was looking at the floor, so I couldn't see my surroundings.

''The device on your face is going to be used as an activator. Your mind is so strong, so useful that it can power all of these minds to wake all at once.''

I looked up and four rows of five kids were on a platform. Each one was given their own personal capsules. They seemed to be sound asleep, unaware of what was about to happen.

''Why do they have to wake? What's it got to do with me?''

''You'll see,'' he said as he turned his attention on the sleeping students, ''You will wake soon, my children! Your hero will save you!''

The Dream Lord made the device on my face activate painfully. I felt it stretch under my eyelid, over to my jaw and across my forehead.

''Ahh-arghh!,'' I yelled as I sank lower to the cold floor.

I felt my head throb as the student's voices came into my mind.

''Wake us,'' they urged, ''Wake us.''

I screamed as I felt every nerve in my brain practically explode. My hearing was muffled a bit as the pain creep up around my head.

''Wake, children! Wake!,'' he said excitedly.

i yelled until my throat was became as dry as a desert. I couldn't just lay there in pain as the hope of humanity was about to be destroyed. I couldn't just stay there. I gritted my teeth together and stood up. I noticed that the capsules were opened and the kids were thoughtlessly walking towards the Dream Lord.

I reached out my hand towards them and yelled, ''No! You're being controlled! I'll get you out of this soon, don't worry!''

''Thank you, hero. You have done your duty. Now come to us,'' the kids said in my head.

''No! I can help you! I can save you from this insane maniac and get you back to normal.''

''Thanks for the compliment,'' he said sarcastically.

''It was my pleasure,'' I said, ''Now, explain all of this to me. You obviously used me to get to my father. Why?''

''A Time Child's mind is valuable. I had to think of some way to get you to me. And believe me, it had nothing to do with your Dad.''

''Oh. . . okay. And I believe that we've reached the point in this where I finally persuade you.''

''Oh, really? How?,'' he said, provoking me.

''These kids. They had to have very powerful dreams to be able to see you. It's almost as if they're... oh, I don't know, fake as well. And speaking of persuasion, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I would _love_ to use on you.''

As I said this, I made myself tower over him as he bent down, walking back towards the wall as I walked towards him.

''This whole place. Where I'm standing now, it's not real. You made me think it was because it was the only chance you had of fooling me, but guess what? You didn't.''

''No! How- you're. . . impossible.''

''That's one thing I'm not. Sure, I'm a whole lot like my father, but one thing that seperates us is that I'm much faster at figuring these. . . plots out. Never forget that if you show up again, which I doubt you will, don't try and do this to my friends or me again.''

The kids all disappeared as I walked through them. I turned around and said to the Dream Lord, who was still at the other end of the room, cowering in fear, ''Thank you for your co-operation.''

I walked up the steps of the school once I exited the basement. Once I was walking through the corridors, to my surprise at the other end, I found the Dream Lord, leaning against the wall with a big smirk on his face.

''Oh, Emma. Emma, Emma, Emma. I'm not fooled that easily. I have to admit, that was absolutley brilliant, but I have one more thing for you.''

I laughed and said, ''No you don't.''

''Yes, I do. A prophecy.''

I was walking away from him as he said this, but I turned around and walked back over to him.

''Prophecy? What prophecy?''

He had a shocked look on his face as he said, ''You don't know? That is a shock considering it's about you.''

I gave him a confused look and said, ''Me? Why would there be a prophecy about me?''

''You are the Last Time Chld, are you not? And what better person to write a prophecy about?''

''Why is there a prophecy about me? _Me_. I mean, come on. That's just. . . ridiculous. Seriously? Why hasn't Dad told me about this.''

''Oh, he didn't tell you? Oh, that's right. He didn't want his precious daughter reading in on her oh so dangerous future, right?''

I took deep frusturated breaths as I approached him. ''If there really is one about me then it most likely isn't true, right?''

He took a piece of paper, skimmed it and said, ''Well, it's pretty accurate. I'd say this is most likely going to be your future. And you've always wanted to leave your footprint on the universe in some way, haven't you?''

''Well. yeah. . .''

He put it back in his pocket and then said, ''Go on, do what you were going to do. I find no shame in being defeated.''

''Well of course you don't. You have no feelings, no human emotions. Because you're a hologram. I knew it the moment you zapped near me. I just pretend to not notice it.''

He clapped for a second then said, ''Well done. You've passed my test.''

''Yep. I did.''

I walked back down the hall and saw that the whole school was disappearing in a burst of blinding white light. I kept walking while it happened and for a moment I was engulfed in darkness, but then I stepped into the main hall of the actual school. I felt very dizzy as I stumbled in the corridor. I fell to my knees as I saw the blurry faces of Rani and Luke run towards me. I was caught in their grasp as I closed my eyes, blacking out from how incredibly tired I was.

**A/N: Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know! The next chapter involves a certain charachter which one of my followers will enjoy...**


	15. Chapter 15

Universal Impact

Chapter 15

Introductions

3rd November 2009

Luke's house

''Scanning. . . . . . . the results indicate that she is unconsious from lack of sleep and exaustion, Sarah Jane,'' a computerised voice said.

I couldn't hear anything after that and a few minutes later, I heard Rani talking to Luke in whispers.

''What do you think the metal device could be?,'' Rani asked Luke.

''Dunno. It could be anything. The Dream Lord probably put it on her because she didn't have it on before,'' he answered.

''It was weird because she went to the loo about midway through fifth period and didn't get back until we found her an hour later.''

''It definitely was a crazy day,'' he said.

''Absolutley. Why did you think the Dream Lord wanted her so badly?''

''He said he was testing us, but he seemed to test her more than me.''

''Are you getting that weird feeling that something is going on?''

''Oh yeah. It seems like she's so much more than just your average human.''

''I can't belive I'm saying this, but I think my friend's an alien.''

I heard her quietly walk up and she said quietly, ''Mr. Smith. I need you.''

I heard a machine activate loudly and the computerised voice said, ''How may I be of assistance, Rani?''

''I need you to do a full body scan on her and identify what the device is,'' she ordered.

I felt it scan me, but it didn't hurt. Once it was finished, the computer said, ''Emma Amelia Song. Born on 7th June 3033 on the TARDIS. She is the daughter of River Song and the Doctor. The device was used to amplify telekenetic wavelengths.''

Both of them were silent for a very long time and I pictured them looking at each other in complete shock. I heard the door open a few feet away from me and a woman's voice said,''What are you two doing? Why is Mr. Smith on?''

They didn't answer for a few seconds and the woman asked, ''What is it? What's going on?''

''Sarah Jane,'' Rani began, ''you wouldn't believe who she is.''

''Who? Her?,'' the woman called Sarah Jane asked, probably looking at me.

''Mr. Smith,'' Luke said, ''Scan her.''

I felt horozontial red lights go up and down my body, scanning to find my identity.

The computer said, ''Emma Amelia Song. Born on 7th June 3033 on the TARDIS. She is the daughter of River Song and the Doctor. Her genetic makeup is quite interesting, as her Gallifreyan genes seem to heavily dominate her human genes. She is widely known throughout the universe as 'The Last Tme Child' or 'The Girl of Two Worlds.' In all cultures, except her home planet of Earth, she appears in literature as a legend who defeats an evil power and saves the universe from destruction. It is rumoured that she has a prophecy written about her, but it is deemed false, as no written record has been found of it.''

''That's. . . impossible. She isn't. . . she can't be,'' she said.

''But Mr. Smith never lies, so apparently she is,'' Rani said.

''Should we tell her Dad what happened?,'' Luke asked the woman.

''No. It's best if we don't. Rani, go get Clyde,'' she said as I heard Rani dash to the door and down the stairs.

I heard someone walk towards me, but the woman said, ''No, Luke. She needs rest.''

''She's been asleep for two hours. She would love to meet you,'' Luke said as he advanced.

He shook me slightly and said, ''Emma, wake up. There's someone here I want you to meet.''

I opened my eyes and saw Luke dressed in his school clothes, although his tie was off and a woman stood behind him. She had dark brown hair, green eyes and was wearing black high heels, olive coloured jeans, a shirt and a brown vest over top of it.

''Well that was one heck of a first day,'' I said, sitting up.

''Hello,'' she said,''you must be Emma. I'm Sarah Jane, Luke's Mum.''

''Yeah, I am. Nice to meet you. Sorry for all this. I know it must be a shock to you finding me in this state and all, but thanks for allowing me to stay here for the time being,'' I said.

''Oh, no, no. It's fine. Any friend of Luke's is always welcome,'' she assured me.

''If you don't mind me asking; what do you do for a living?''

''I'm an investigative journalist,'' she said.

''That must be what you do in your spare time. What you really do is, for lack of better wording, hunt down aliens. And you know I'm one. I heard you talking. Again, sorry for that, it's the Gallifreyan ears.''

She looked at me open mouthed, completely speechless. ''How- how could you've known all of that? Just from meeting not a minute ago.''

''Oh, I'm pretty. . .observant. And the observant people always point out the obvious. Like how you traveled with my Father when you were young. After a while, you settled down, got a job as a journalist and ever since, you adopted Luke and with him and his friends Rani and Clyde have been hunting aliens around Ealing since 2007.''

''You're extrordinary. Such a mind you've got there.''

''Aw, thanks. I get it from my Dad.''

The door opened behind us and Rani came in with a boy who looked about 15. He had dark skin, brown eyes and wore jeans and a blue polo.

''Really, Rani? This is the Doctor's daughter? She looks nothing like him,'' the boy who was probably Clyde said.

''Yes, it is, Clyde. It's probably because her Dad is in a different...''

She struggled to find the word until I said, ''Regeneration. Not to be confused with all the other versions of him, I know him in his eleventh regeneration.''

''Speaking of your parents,'' Sarah Jane said, ''Your mother, River, who is she? A companion?''

''Oh, no. It's actually kind of complicated. She's kind of. . . in jail right now for some big ordeal that I don't really know about, but anyway, Dad and I sort of help her escape evey now and then, so. . . um. . . I think she taught archeology for a brief period of time and yeah, I don't really exactly know that much about her, yet, anyway.''

''Well. . . that's very unfourtanate,'' she said.

''Does anyone know how to get this thing off of me?'' I asked, for it was becoming very uncomfortable.

''No, sorry,'' Sarah Jane said.

''Well, it seems that I have some explaining to do once I get home. May I use your phone to call my Dad?''

''Of course, '' she said, crossing over to the desk and grabbing the white phone from the charger. She handed it to me and I took it from her.

I dialed the fifteen digit number and after three rings, Dad's voice on the other line said, ''Hello?''

''Hi, Dad. I'm sorry I didn't call earlier. I kind of. . . got into trouble.''

''Trouble? With what? Are you okay?''

''I'm fine, I'll explain later. Just come get me please. I'm at Sarah Jane Smith's house.''

''Um. . . okay. I'll be here as soon as I can,'' he said.

''Alright, just don't. . . make a fool of yourself,'' I said once I hit the end button.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hello, readers! I hope you're enjoying this story, I just wanted to give you some clues as to what's going to happen. First, the device on her face isn't exactly what it seems. Second, there will be two sides of Emma brought up in this chapter. Some feelings of hers will emerge, and let me tell you they're not the most pleasant ones. So, I'll just shut up now so you can start reading chapter 16.**

Chapter 16

The Ultimate Hacker

3rd November 2009

Luke's house/ the TARDIS

I handed the phone back to Sarah Jane and she put it back on the charger.

''What's he like?,'' she asked me eagerly.

''He's kind of immature in this regeneration, but he's insanely clever, kind, down-to-earth. . . you'll probably recognise him from some of his traits from past versions of him, though.''

After I said that, the wonderful sound of the TARDIS materalising came to our ears. The blue police box appeared at the other end of the room near the computer. The door creeked open and my father stepped out. He wore what he always wore; a tweed jacket, braces, black pants and his trademark blue bowtie.

The moment he stepped out, he saw what was on me and rushed towards me. ''You told me you weren't in any trouble,'' he whispered only to me, ''And you lied. . . What happened?''

I looked up at him solemnly and forgivingly and whispered, ''I don't think it's the time to discuss this and I'm sorry. Mum will probably want to hear about it, too.''

He stayed silent for a few seconds and then sighed deeply. We turned our attention to the others in the room and upon seeing one of his past companions, he said, ''Hello, Sarah Jane.''

She smiled and said, ''My, it's been long. Look at you. Oh, how much you've changed since last time.''

He grinned and said, ''Yes. I have changed indeed. Well, we must be off. We have some important buisness to take care of, don't we, Emma?''

_Don't drag them into this. You always forget that we're time travelers_, I thought.

_It's too late now_, he thought back.

''Er... I guess. . . I'll see you tomorrow, guys,'' I said as I crossed to the couch and grabbed my heavy bag. I put it on my left shoulder and walked into the TARDIS behind Dad.

I closed the door and threw my bag by the coat rack as Dad flew her into the time vortex. Once he pulled down the final lever, he ran over to me, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and soniced me. This made some of the wires spark unintentionally and I fell on my knees, yelling.

''I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I had to find some way of identifying it!,'' Dad yelled as I sat there in pain, covering my face.

''Well think of something else! The Dream Lord put it on me to amplify my telekenetic wavelengths!,'' I blurted out.

He read the results and said, ''This is bad. Very, very bad. It's not an amplifier. It's used to change your personality, to bring out the bad in you. I'll figure out something. . .''

I screamed in agony as I twitched violently.

I was sweating from how much my head throbbed. It felt like someone was overtaking my mind, stealing my thoughts, my memories, my knowledge. I twitched again as I yelled, ''Ahh! Get out! Get out of my head!'' I twitched again as the bad side in me came out, ''Ohh, so much knowledge. You're about to be amazed; taken aback, even, at what you're about to see.'' My neck turned violently as my original personality returned, ''Don't listen to me! All I'm about to say is lies!''

''Just try and fight it, Emma!,'' he yelled as he approached me uncautiously. He looked me in the eyes, studying them for any sign of abnormalities. He put his hand on my right cheek and rubbed it. A tear dripped down my cheek and he wiped it away.

''Just fight it,'' he whispered. Dad kissed my forehead then said, ''I'll be right back. It will only take me two seconds. I promise.''

He was beginning to run out when I twitched. ''You coward. Leaving me when I need you most. All you are is a _coward_!''

My throat felt raw from yelling so fiercly at him. My hearts were pumping rapidly inside my chest. The anger was practically consuming me, rushing through my veins, and every single second I stood there, I could feel the device on my face expanding painfully. It extended across the left side of my face towards my eyelid and across my jawbone.

Dad turned around and the look on his face was one of pure anger. I could hear him breathing deeply. ''Dad. . . please. Don't do this.''

He walked down the steps and he returned with a pair of handcuffs. He cuffed my right wrist on to one of the railings. The cold metal touched against my skin as I tried to come loose. As he walked down the steps towards the doors, I yelled after him, ''There's no way to stop me! I have hold of her!''

The moment he walked out and closed the door, I turned back to my normal self and yelled, ''You can't destroy me! You can't change me!''

I twitched and yelled, ''It's technnically not changing. I've been inside you your whole life. Waiting to come out of the shadows.''

The door barged open and Mum rushed in towards me. Dad was behind her and he slammed the door shut.

''What's happened to her?,'' she asked him, obviously very concerned.

''That's what I've been trying to figure out. But for now, the device is making her change emotions; from the good to bad side of her.''

While saying that, he flew the TARDIS into the time vortex. The TARDIS. Somehow, some way she might be able to solve this. But how? Is there even a button or lever to fix- ha. I sent my idea to Dad and he looked at me proudly.

''To everyone else in the universe, I'm just a shadow of _you_!'' I yelled in fury at him.

''You're much, _much_ more that that! I promise you, Emma! You are,'' he yelled.

''The TARDIS can cross its own timeline, but only to the past! If I can go back to the precise moment that the Dream Lord faded away, then it will zap back to normal again!''

''You're brilliant, absolutely brilliant,'' Mum said to Dad.

He zoomed around the console, pressing the appropriate buttons and levers to cross its own timeline. After the last button was pulled, the TARDIS was jolted forcefully towards the past. The present and the past collided with each other in magnificent colours. They were, quite literally, overlapping with each other and I held on to the railing for dear life as the console sparked violently. Voices from the past echoed inside the control room of that incident and the moment the Dream Lord faded, I could feel the device coming off of me quickly. I felt it tug at my skin and I screamed as the blur of the past, the present and the TARDIS sparking blended together rather disconfiguringly. The nerves in my brain felt like they were bring torn apart as the device vanished from my face. My head throbbed, my hands sweat and I was shaking like mad.

Mum ran towards me, although it was like I was seeing two or three of her.

''Emma?!. . . Doctor!''

She ran back to Dad, who had an iron grip on the controls. The TARDIS was almost catching fire as it struggled to get back into the present. Everything became one big blur, then a blob. My brain was practically exploding because of the pressure it went through. I kept shaking in shock and my muscles felt useless. I fell to my knees and fell hard on to the glass floor. My face hit the floor with hard force as I felt my eyes roll in the back of my head. The last image I saw was the sideways console sparking volcanically.

**Hi everyone! First off, thank you soooooooooooo much for the comments! Second, this week I have tons of testing and might not get in another chapter until either Saturday or Sunday. Thanks for your cooperation! : )**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Certain dialogue from Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead is going to be used in this chapter. So that means I do not own the show, but, as I said, I might one day. *cue evil laugh # 2***

Chapter 17

Revealing Dream

the TARDIS

All I could see was darkness. Well, yeah, obviously, because I was unconsious, but it felt like I was in a dream. My eyes opened a fraction and I could see the ceiling of the control room. The smell of the TARDIS burning engufed my nostrils. I heard the buzzing of the sonic screwdriver around me.

''Is she okay? Tell me that she's all right, Doctor. Tell me,'' Mum begged. I felt that I was pulled up by her and she was trying to support me. I layed sort of upright against the left side of her body. She was on the floor beside me, her legs tucked in under the back of her legs only in the attempt to support me. Her right arm was across my chest and she rubbed my left shoulder gently.

I heard him extend the device and he sighed deeply. The frustration in it was very noticable.

I closed my eyes again when I saw him come towards us. I heard him bend down and he said, ''She is going to be absolutely fine. She's unconsious from exhaustion and exertion. That's all. She's just tired. That's it.''

My eyes rolled in the back of my head as I slipped into unconsiousness once , I heard a voice in the darkness.

''_It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark_,'' a man's voice said.

What's in the dark? One part of me thought he was referring to the darkness I was in, but the other part was thinking this was something different. Something. . . from the past.

The man spoke again, ''_Count the shadows.''_

Okay, the other part of me was right. This is definitely from the past. But why is the past showing up in my dreams? A flash of an image appeared for a split second. I couldn't exactly describe it very well, but the central object was an empty chair. An empty chair. . . huh. . . Empty chair. . .

A chair. Why is a chair very important to the past? What's it got to do with me, or, more primarily in this dream, my parents? The man that spoke, was he my father in a different incarnation? I thought this as a valid possibility.

The image of a library flashed and I thought that they had some type of connection to each other. Both of them had the same. . . look to them.

Now a woman's voice spoke, _''The Doctor. In the TARDIS. Next stop: Everywhere.''_

Okay, this is only leading to me asking more questions and not getting any answers. First, a past incarnation of Dad spoke. Next, a chair. Then, a library. Now, Mum's voice. How do all of these fit? I know this is trying to make me understand their past, but it's just not making any sense. I tried to make connections, but nothing I came up with seemed plausible.

I felt myself fall down what seemed like a big black hole. I landed painfully on. . . straw. Once I stood and brushed myself off, I immediately became confused because of my surroundings. I was in a large circular room. In the centre, a thick long beam of red light was coming out of the top of three circular connectors, which had. . . Gallifreyan markings on them. This room. . . it's a future console room of the TARDIS. But what's with the beam of light?

''All of your questions will be answered soon,'' a woman's voice said.

I spun around and saw a woman with brown hair, brown eyes. She wore a red dress and seemed very petite for her age (she looked around. . . 22, 23-ish).

''Who are you? Judging by your tone of voice, it seems like you have all of the answers,'' I said.

''It's too early for you to know. And I'm not the one to tell you. Your Dad is.''

''Are you a future version of me? Since this is a future version of the TARDIS?''

''You are real observant,'' she said aside, then turned to me, ''No. And if I was, I wouldn't tell you.''

''Then what's your name?''

''Clara Oswald. And don't bother introducing yourself. Everyone knows who you are. My, you're young. From my perspective, of course. Anyway, on to my point. You have a destiny. One much, much greater than your parent's. There isn't time for me to explain, but everything in the prophecy is true. You must follow your destiny or your timeline will collapse and you will never have been born.''

I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off, ''Don't ask me what would happen. Just, for now, live your life and enjoy it while you still have somewhat of a normal one. Do that for me, alright?''

''Wait, you're saying that soon my life's going to become pretty chaotic and soon I'm going to have to face my destiny?''

''I can't explain, I'm sorry! And it's time for you to wake up. I have to go.''

She disappeared into the beam of red light and it became brighter.

''Wait; Clara!'' I yelled, reaching out to where she just vanished.

The blinding red light became brighter with every second that past, which made me become consious again. I opened my eyes and sat up straight. I breathed heavily and found myself in my room. I felt volcanically hot and sweat was on my shirt. I was still in my school uniform; I forgot to change into casual clothes a few hours ago. The alarm clock on my bedstand read 12.48. I got out of bed once I calmed down and crossed to my bathroom.

I first went over to the sink and looked in the mirror. I looked awful. My face was as pale as a ghost. My pupils looked dialated from so much shock and small beads of sweat made their way down my face. I turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on my face. How am I going to explain this dream to him? It's the worst one I've ever had, in terms of their past and my future. I turned the faucet off and walked out of the bathroom. I walked over to my bed, bent down and opened my built in drawers. I got out a pair of pajamas and changed clothes. Once I was done changing, I threw my uniform down the laundry chute, which automatically sends clothes to the TARDIS's laundromat.

I got back into bed and fell asleep effortlessly. A few minutes later or so, I heard someone open my door.

**The next chapter is going to be in River's POV, giving her input on how Emma has matured and what her future holds. Upon hearing that the DVD of part 2 has been accidentally sent early, I have been trying to avoid any spoiler what so ever on the upcoming episode. Please, I beg of you, do not spoil anything for me if you've seen the episode. The most you can do is say if it was epic, okay or bad. Thanks for your understanding.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Peace. . . For a Moment

River's POV

the TARDIS

I walked down the corridor on my way to Emma's room to make sure she was okay. I know I'm over-reacting, but I was very worried about her today. The Doctor explained to me that something happened while she was at school and it had something to do with aliens. I always knew she would be around them, condsidering her background, but I never thought they would find her there.

I turned a corner and walked down to the enterance of her room. I slowly twisted the doorknob and opened the door as quietly as I could. She lay in her bed silently, her breathing shallow and steady. I walked in and approached her. I grabbed the chair from her desk and pulled it over to the left side of her bed. I sat down and studied her. She looked extremely exhausted, but peaceful at the same time. I sighed in awe at her, reached my hand out and stroked her wavy brown hair.

''You scare me half to death sometimes,'' I whispered to her, ''It must be tough, being you. There's so much expectation of you; too much most of the time. And I'm sorry. We're sorry. . . You'll read about your prophecy very soon. This is the telling of your destiny. You're going to save all of us. Every one of us. . .''

I began tearing up as I recollected that fateful day. ''I'm- so proud of you. You did absolutely incredible that day and I wouldn't be able to repay you for what you did for us.''

I heard footsteps near the door and looked up. The Doctor stood in the doorway. He seemed concerned when he saw me crying and quietly walked in. He came over and stood behind me.

''What's wrong?'' he whispered.

''Oh, nothing. Just being. . . sentimental. . . You have to tell her soon, you know.''

''Yes, I know. It's going to be hard. . . very hard,'' he whispered, rubbing my arm, ''How will I be able to do this, River? Telling her what she's destined for. . .especially her future. . . it's- it scares me.''

I sighed uneasily and said, ''She told me about it a few years ago. She said that you were very serious with her and she didn't know why. It took you a while to explain to her, but at the end she understood her destiny fully.''

''She was that determined?''

''Mm. She had to get it from somewhere.''

We stood there, admiring her. I was shocked at the changes that were taking place in her in such a small amount of time. She has the urge to put more and more perfume on as each day passes, she's getting less and less sleep every night (the Doctor says her sleeping patterns become more like his as she gets older, but tonight is definitely an exception) and every day, she looks more like me. Now some people would argue this, but it is true. Her complextion is becoming rosier, her eyebrows curvier and her hair wavier. Although most of her physical aspects were inherited from her father, they contrast perfectly with mine.

I cried more, knowing what was coming for her. It was so uncommon for me to cry, but I did for my daughter. I cried because I rarely see her; because I worried about her every day when I'm sitting there in my cell, and most of all, because everything in me wanted to protect her from the coming dangers, but I knew I couldn't. She had to do it alone. I wish that I could reverse everything that had to do with her prophecised future. But I _couldn't_. The one thing I did was prepare her and enjoy every moment I had with her.

The Doctor comforted me more when he saw I was getting emotional and said, ''I'll go make some tea.''

He walked out as I wiped my tears. I know crying isn't exactly the best way to handle it, but they just came out of nowhere. Through blurry eyes, I reached my hand to hers, which was dangling off the side of the bed. Her hand felt cold and numb. I put it on the light blue sheets and rubbed the back of it. I admired her appearance until the Doctor came through the doorway and quietly announced that the tea was ready. I let go of her hand gently, stood and cautiously put the chair back to its original place. Then I looked down at her for a moment, bent down, tucked some of her hair behind her ear, kissed her cheek and whispered into her ear, ''Good night, sweetheart.''

. . .

The Doctor landed the TARDIS in the usual spot at Stormcage. As he put down the emergency break, he said, ''See you tomorrow, then?''

''Yes, but I might be late. I have a wedding to go to.''

''Wedding? I thought you weren't a wedding person,'' he said.

''Well, it's for someone I'm pretty close to,'' I said, giving him a hint.

''It's her's, isn't it?'' he asked.

''Spoilers.''

He sighed and then said, ''Well, until next time.''

I grinned and after sharing a kiss, he walked off into the TARDIS and I re-entered my cell. As the time machine dematerialised, I pulled my diary from under the covers of my bed and flipped through until I found the wedding invitation. I sighed sentimentally and whispered to myself, ''Where has the time gone?''

**Sorry for the delay, again, but you know, stupid exams. Anyway, I'm planning for the next chapter to reveal some of Emma's unspoken past.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Flashback

28th March 2010

Park Vale

Emma's POV

''Are you ready for the test today in Algebra?'' Rani asked me in tutor room.

''Honestly. . . kind of. You?''

''Not really. It's the first time I've ever been nervous for a test, actually,'' she answered.

''Now you know how I feel. I'm nervous for every test I have.''

''Really? Why?''

''I don't know; just afraid of failing, I guess.''

''Still coming to the mall with us?''

''Yeah. I almost wasn't aloud because my Dad's too paranoid I might get abducted by daleks or something, but my grandma finally convinced him.''

''The women in your family must really know how to take charge, then.''

''Oh yeah. You definitely wouldn't want to see her angry,'' I said, shuddering at the thought.

The bell rang for first period and all seventeen of us sprinted to the door. Rani and I walked into the hall and resumed our conversation.

''Remember that we're meeting up at Sarah Jane's house after school then she's going to drive us there,'' she told me for the hundreth time that week.

''I know. Hey, aren't football tryouts after school on Tuesday?''

''I think so. Are you thinking of getting on the team?''

''Yeah. I played when I was in primary school up in Yorkshire. I played all sorts of positions because the team only had ten players.''

We entered the English room and sat in our usual seats.

''Good luck. It's almost impossible to get into the football league here because of the overwhelming amount of people who try out.''

''Do you want to try out with me?''

The bell rang and Mrs. Miller said, ''Alrighty everyone, get out your homework from last night. Pass it up.''

''Are you mad?'' Rani whispered as I took out my English folder and got out my homework, ''I'm no good at football. I wouldn't be caught dead with a football even a hundred metres near me.''

''I was just asking. Now I'm gonna be all lonely. Thanks,'' I said sarcastically, passing up the homework.

As she was collecting the homework, she announced, ''Don't forget that Parents' Evening is Friday night at six. I'll be commenting on how you've done so far this term and how you could improve, that is, if you need any. Okay, turn your _Tempest_ books to where we left off yesterday and get out the yellow packet. . .''

Throughout the rest of the day, the teachers rambled on about Parents' Evening and how they were anxious to meet my parents for the first time. _This is going to be interesting_, I thought as I pictured how Dad was going to act around my teachers. I ignored that thought and made a mental note to tell them after I get back from the mall. Once the bell rang for chemistry, Rani and I were getting excited to get this school day over with and get new clothes from Topshop or Hollister.

We made our way to our usual seats, sat down and started getting out the homework. Once I found it, I found that a boy in my year was leaning on the front of the desk, smirking annoyingly.

''Hey, dwarf,'' he said, using his pathetic nickname for me.

''Hi, Colin. Do you mind and wipe that exasperating smirk off your face?''

''Er- what did you say to me, nerd?'' he said defensively.

''I said to get that exasperating thing you call a smirk off your face. I'm exasperated that you don't know what exasperated means.''

He put up his hands as if in surrender and said, ''Ohh, being defensive, are we, Song? I just wanted to ask a favour of you.''

I furrowed my brow in surprise and said, ''Me? You're asking a favour of me? Why don't you ask one of your 'friends' over there?''

I pointed to a group of three skinny boys that were sitting on a table across the room, chatting.

He looked at them momentarily and then turned back to me. ''That's the problem. I don't trust them. I trust you to keep this safe for me for a few months because, you see, I think those rumours flying around about you are true. Please?''

He took out a small bag and showed it to me momentarily before putting it back in his pocket. One look and I knew what the substance was.

I looked solemnly in his face and whispered with my teeth grit, ''No. They aren't true, Colin. Okay? I'm not that easy to trick. If the police catch me, then my clean slate gets ruined, alright?''

He shrugged and said,''Alright, Song.''

Colin walked to his seat behind me and the next movement I made was the worst I've made in my life. I forgot to get a pencil, so I rummaged through my bag, grabbed one, but forgot to close it because I had other things on my mind. The bell rang and the teacher came in. Rani leaned over to me and whispered, ''What did Colin want? I was busy talking to Grace.''

''It's nothing. He just wanted to cheat off my homework,'' I said.

''Am I interrupting something, Miss Song?'' my teacher asked.

Crap. I'm busted. That's the third time this week just in this class, and it's only Tuesday! I had that feeling that every single eye in the room was looking straight at me, burning right through my soul or something. Everything became tense and awkward.

''No, er- sorry,'' I said, extremely embarrassed.

''That's what I thought. Well, I'll be glad to see what your parents think of your behaviour in my class on Friday night.''

I half blushed, but the other emotion I was feeling was anger because I didn't want to get in trouble with my parents and plus I was starting to not like my chemistry teacher _at all_. The rest of the period was boring and too prolonged. When the bell rung, all of us sprinted out of our seats. We met up with Luke and Clyde at the lobby and walked out together.

''Okay, so I don't like my chemistry teacher at all now,'' I complained to my two other friends.

''Why?'' Clyde asked me.

''I've been talking in her class, you know, a few seconds after the bell rings and she gets really ticked off at me, and do you know what she said? She was like, 'I'll be glad to see what your parents think about your behaviour in my class.' Those were her exact words; no joke.''

Clyde rolled his eyes.

''She's serious, Clyde!,'' Rani said after elbowing him in the gut.

''I think she was just exaggerating,'' Luke said.

''But she wasn't Luke. It was like she seriously, actually meant it.,'' I said.

We walked out of the building and out of the corner of my eye, I saw people staring at me like I was a threat or something. But then I saw they were looking at my bag.

''Luke, is my bag open?'' I asked curiously.

He looked behind me and said, ''Yeah.''

He politely zipped it back up and I heard some people that were around us laugh and giggle. They snickered as they walked by us. I was becoming angrier and angrier by the moment. I turned to him furiously and yelled, ''Don't do that to me ever again, alright?!''

He looked extremely taken aback and a few people that were around us stopped and looked at me like I was some type of hothead that shouldn't be bothered. I trudged past him, ran into him in the shoulder while walking past and stormed out of view of everyone.

I ran behind a tree, threw my bag down and fell to the ground. I felt the hot tears streaming down my face as I put my knees against my chin. I absolutely hate today. My chemistry teacher hates me plus more and more rumours are going to be made about me.

I had tonnes of problems with bullies and stuff. They would make fun of me and do all of the stereotypical bullying, but it's worse here. There, I had to deal with the physical part of it. Here, it's verbal and it's a thousand times worse. These stupid idiots make up rumours about me like that I used to be some type of rebel or that I used to get in trouble with the law; you know, ridiculous things like , stupid me, I forgot to zip up my bag and I had to freak out on one of my best friends because I'm mad at every other thing that's going on, which brings this whole stupid conflict to an overflowing boiling point.

''We can just postpone the mall if you need,'' Rani said a few feet away from me.

I looked at her, wiped some of the tears away and said, ''No. It's fine. I just need something to brighten my day up.''

I stood, grabbed my bag and the four of us walked down the road as I tried to ignore the stares of the other kids. I tried as hard as I could to not feel them staring at me, but it was a pretty hard thing to do. Just for at least a few hours, I had to try my hardest and put the school day behind me.

**I know that I'm making her past complex and kind of dark, but hey, it adds to her backstory and shapes who she is today and what she's been hiding throughout the story. The next chapter will involve the mall outing, a possible discussion about Parents Evening and she'll make a discovery which will add to all the drama.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Apology, the Mall and a Shocking Discovery

28th March 2010

Sarah Jane's house/ the mall/ the TARDIS

We entered Sarah Jane's house and after she greeted us, she said to me, ''Oh, Emma, your Dad dropped off some money for you to take and there's also some clothes for you to change into.''

She went into the kitchen, grabbed a small pile of cash and a bag with a pair of jeans, a top and red sneakers and handed it to me. I thanked her and turned to Luke.

''I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was just so emotional today because all of the stuff that's been going on. I just get frusturated, that's all,'' I said to him honestly.

He looked into my eyes and said, ''It's okay. We all do sometimes.''

I smiled at him and walked towards the bathroom. I entered, locked the door behind me and started to change out of my uniform. Once I changed into the clothes Dad dropped off, I put my uniform neatly into the bag which had the other clothes in it. I grabbed my school bag, the bag with my uniform in it and walked out the door. I went into the kitchen to find Luke in jeans, a long sleeve blue shirt and blue flat sneakers.

''Hey,'' he said, ''Rani and Clyde are at their houses getting changed. You can just leave your other stuff here.''

''Alright,'' I said, going into the living room and putting my stuff down on the sofa. I put the money I got from Dad in my pocket and I saw Sarah Jane come down the hall and put her jacket on.

''All ready?'' she asked me.

''Yeah,'' I said.

. . .

The four of us walked out of Hollister an hour later with at least a bag or two in our hands. I had spent the majority of my money here, but I didn't regret it because a certain knitted blue sweater was calling to me. I had purchased said sweater and some amazing smelling perfume. Rani bought some jeans and a shirt, Clyde a graphic t-shirt and some cologne and Luke a yellow plaid button down shirt, white and navy blue striped flipflops and a light blue sweat shirt.

''I only have five quid left,'' I said disappointingly,'' How about you guys?''

They counted theirs and Luke said,''Ten.''

''Twelve,'' said Rani.

''Five also,''' Clyde said.

''Do you want to combine our money and get fish and chips or something small?'' I suggested.

My friends were all for it and headed for the food court. Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting at a table in the food court, talking about different things.

''. . . just ignore them. That's the best thing you can do right now,'' Rani suggested.

''I try, but it's impossible to do that when almost the entire school knows the rumours floating around about me. I just wish there was some way to shut them up.''

Clyde put on his 'I have a plan' face and I said, ''No. Just no. Remember what happened last time when I went with one of your plans?''

I had a momentary flashback when he ''accidentally'' made the fire alarm go off when he turned the temperature higher on one group's oven in cooking, which caused the oven to burst into flames. He only did it because that group was making fun of us and because of it, he had two weeks of detention.

''Okay, well, it was a good idea,'' he said, disappointed.

''This is my problem. I can handle it on my own.''

''But just remember that we're your best friends and we'll be here whenever you need us,'' Rani said.

''I know that, but what will happen when you start believing them and soon you'll be on their side?''

''We won't be, Emma. Their just looking to cause gossip and stupid, pointless drama.''

''You're right, Rani. But just being there and having them all stare at me like I'm a meal; it's- taunting.''

. . .

I watched Dad as he flew the TARDIS into the time vortex. He then zoomed to the front of the console and asked, ''How was your day?''

''To be honest, it was absolutely exhausting. Oh, and Parents' Evening is on Friday at six. Don't forget,'' I paused for a moment then said, ''I'm going to do my homework.''

I walked up the steps to the corridor and ten minutes later, I went into my room. The lights turned on automatically and I threw my Hollister bag on the floor. I threw my bag on my bed and when I opened it, I whispered, ''You bloody idiot.''

A plastic bag with about twelve grams of a powder like substance was on top of all of my folders and books. He must have put it in there after I got out a pencil and forgot to close it. My first thought was to give it back to him tomorrow, but it had such a distinct smell that any one of the teachers could identify it almost immediately. I decided a few moments later that I should hide it. I knew that my parents come in here to check on me (that is, on the nights I sleep, for I have a weird sleeping schedule given my genetic makeup). Tonight is definitely going to be restless.

I scoured my room for a good hiding spot, but after a half an hour, I couldn't come up with a spot. Then, I had a brilliant idea. I went over to my crowded bookshelf and searched it for a book I never read. I ended up picking the hardback version of _A Tale of Two Cities_. I grabbed it and opened it on my desk, then grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer below the top of my desk. I flipped through a fourth of the pages and began to cut a square, but left a few inches as a sort of margin. Ten minutes later, I tore up the scraps of paper from the square I cut and threw them in the bin between other trash. I then grabbed the bag with the substance in and to my liking, it fit in perfectly.

I shut the book and made sure I couldn't feel that the bag was in there. I put the book back in its place and gratefully, the scent of it lessened so much that I could barely smell it. I went over to my bag and got out my English folder, my borrowed copy of _The Tempest_ and a pencil. I sat down on my comfy spinny chair and began doing the assigned questions to take my mind off things. A knock on my door was heard a few minutes later.

''Come in,'' I said as I finished writing the answer to one of the questions.

Mum stood in the doorway and said, ''We're going to visit Amy and Rory soon. How was your day?''

''Hectic, but normal. Parents' Evening is on Friday night and football tryouts are on Tuesday after school, but I'm not sure when it ends.''

''I'll keep that in mind.''

I closed the book, stood and pushed the chair in before walking out into the corridors. We reached the control room in about eight minutes and saw that Dad had already landed her near Amy and Rory's house. The three of us walked out and went to their doorstep before Dad knocked on their door. Rory answered it, greeted us and allowed us to come inside. Amy, who was sitting on the sofa watching a show on telly, came over to us and greeted us enthusiastically.

I sat down beside her, Rory sat on the other side of her and Mum and Dad sat on a small sofa to the right of where we were sitting.

''Where are we?,'' Dad asked.

''You just dropped us off after we visited the 1969 Moon Landing,'' Amy said.

''Oh, yes. That was a fun one,'' Dad commented.

''How's school?'' Rory asked me.

''It's okay. It's just that it's the middle of the year and the teachers assign _way_ too much homework and sports are starting up.''

''I know what ya mean,'' Amy said, ''The point where everyone's starting to slack and all you want to do is rush through the rest of the year so you can have those two months of freedom.''

''Exactly,'' I said, ''I'm going to be trying out for football on Tuesday, but the only problem is competition. Hopefully I'll be able to get myself a spot, though. If I don't make it to the team, I think I might do either track or tennis.''

''If you do track, then what event do you think you'll be doing?'' Rory asked.

''I don't know. I was thinking maybe long jump, the hundred metre or pole vault. I could do all three of them if I really wanted to.''

''All three of them? I would pick at least two, try them out and see which one I liked the most,'' he said.

An important though came to mind and I said, ''I almost forgot. I need football boots.''

. . .

Mum, Amy and I went to the mall after a few more minutes of talking to get the gear I needed. I ended up with football boots, a football, some red shorts (to correspond with the school colours), a few Under Armour tops, two pairs of shin guards and three packs of football socks. I began to feel nervous for it already and wondered what it was going to be like. I ignored the thought to lessen the anxiety, as it was a week away from now and I didn't want to stress myself out more by not worrying about it until a couple of days away.

I was excited to start playing again because I haven't in a year or so. I started playing when I was five or six, give or take. My adoptive Dad watched football all the time and I fell in love with it immediately once I understood the rules. I played for teams around the community and won lots of medals (most of which I still have hanging in my closet). My two favourite positions are goalkeeper and Defence because I love to diving to try and catch the ball before it goes into the net and I get a rush trying to take posession of the ball by jumping through the air while the ball is coming towards me.

When I entered my room a couple of hours later, I still remembered that I still had two subjects of homework to do. I went over to my desk and got my Algebra book and folder out of my bag. I got out the homework paper and did the first few problems (most of which took me a couple of minutes to do) before I felt my eyelids getting heavy. I wanted to ignore the fatigue which loomed over me, but before I could, I felt my head lay on the textbook and I closed my eyes after one of the most stressful days of my life.

** Next up: football tryouts! I wanted to add something of normalcy in her life in these past couple chapters and some future chapters. Sorry I haven't updated; been busy since summer started, but I'll try and add more often now that summer's in full swing! : )**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Tryouts and New Rivals

5th April 2010

Park Vale Football Pitch

I ran effortlessly by my other teamates, kicking the football with my feet. One girl zoomed toward me and tried to get the ball, but I ran faster before she tried to steal it from me. I saw the goal about twenty metres ahead of me, blocked by a determined looking goalkeeper. I slowed down a bit preparing to shoot it towards the net. I swung my leg back and then forward as my left foot connected with the ball with a massive amount of force. The ball flew through the air with unceasing speed and went above the goalkeeper, who was jumping up trying to retrieve it. I heard that joyous sound of the ball hitting the net and my team yelled with excitement.

The coach, who also taught PSHE, stared at the goal in disbelief. After comprehending what she just saw, she yelled, ''Now _that_ is how you play football! Ladies, follow her example! You, let's see how you do in goal.''

I ran over to the girl who played goalie and as she gave me the gloves, she gave me a hateful stare. I ignored it and put the sweaty gloves on. Coach Callum put the ball in the centre of the field and the red team began the second part of the scrimmage. The green team soon took posession of the ball and I prepared myself. The girl who had the ball kicked one right at me and the force of it made me fall back on to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her get control of the ball and she was about to kick it into the goal. I scrambled on the grass and when her foot was in mid kick, I grabbed the ball and held it tightly. Her foot connected with my hand painfully because she didn't see me grab it.

I yelled, stood, dropped the ball and tore the left glove off. The back of my hand was turning black and blue already and I could barely move it. I walked over to the coach and said, ''It was probably an accident. Should I sit out?''

She examined it and said, ''There's a first aid kit over there by the bench. I'd wrap it and take a breather.''

I went over to the bench and found the first aid kit. I picked it up with my uninjured hand, sat down and began rummaging through it for medical tape and cloth to wrap it with. Once I found some, I began wrapping it from the top of my wrist up. I winced once I wrapped it around the back of my hand. I ripped the extra cloth off of the roll and put some medical tape on the end of the cloth.

For the remaining half hour of tryouts, I watched them do suicides to test everyone's stamina. I was glad that i injured my hand to get out of it because suicides beat you to a pulp after them and your muscles feel like jelly. After they were done with that, coach called us to gather around.

''All of you played well. I saw what I wanted to see and you gave this your all. You really did. Nineteen of you will be picked to be on this football team and I expect every one of you to play like you've never played before. If you're bad in one position, I want you to improve on it. The team list will be posted outside of Registration on Friday. The first practice will be on Monday right after school, so be sure to get your equipment before that. Alright, good luck and you're dismissed.''

We cleared out and I grabbed my gear. I walked out of the pitch exhausted, sweat covered and grass stained. Sure, it was tiring, but I love the grass stains. The only problem is going to be Mum's reaction to my clothes and injury, that is, if I see her tonight. I waited for Sarah Jane to pick me up when a few people commented on how good I did during practice, when most of them glared at me in jealousy. After what seemed like an hour, she finally came in her little blue car. Luke was in the front seat and said as I opened the door and put my stuff in, ''How did it go?''

''Pretty well,'' I said, getting in then putting my seat belt on, ''but this girl smacked my hand with her foot while I was goalkeeping.''

I held my injured hand up as Sarah Jane drove through the car park. Luke looked at it with worry.

''Does it hurt?'' he asked.

''Oh yeah. It was bruised just after I got it. Hopefully it heals before the first practice, if I get in.''

''I thought we could celebrate by going out. Is that okay with you?'' Sarah Jane asked.

''Definitely. Where were you thinking of going?''

''Well, your Dad has been at my place for over an hour. He told me he forgot about your tryouts today, so we'll stop by there first then decide where we're going.''

''Alright.'' I sighed, but then wondered which version of Dad was at Sarah Jane's house. I decided to deal with it after we celebrated.

We arrived at the house a minute later and found the TARDIS sitting in the drive way. The odd thing was the exterior of it was cleaner than usual. Sarah Jane parked the car near the garage and we got out. I grabbed my equipment and then shut the door. As we entered, Dad yelled to my embarrasment, ''There's my athlete!''

He came to the door from the living room and once he saw the cloth around my hand, he looked extremely worried and asked, ''What happened to your hand?''

''A girl smacked her foot into it while I was holding on to the ball. Apparently, she didn't see my hand there.''

''Let me see,'' he said, trying to put use to his title.

I went over to him after putting my gear down on the wood floor and unwrapped the cloth. The bruise was clearly worse than when I first got it. Some of it was turning purple and most of it was black. Dad took out the sonic and scanned it. He extended it, then said, ''There's some internal bleeding, but it'll heal within a few hours.''

''That's a relief,'' I said, glad that it healed quickly.

We ate at a pub on High Street to celebrate the effort I put towards the tryouts. Luke kept looking at me while we were eating and he was almost literally drooling over me. He really seems to be attracted to me and I don't know why. I mean, I haven't really changed in these past few months in appearence and yeah, he's hot, but I couldn't _date_ him. It's just the wrong time. I'll probably have football practice, a mountain of homework every night and all the drama to deal with. I most definitely _won't_ have time for a boyfriend.

When we came home, we got out of the car and Dad said, ''Thanks for dinner. I really enjoyed it. I'm thinking they did, too.''

It got kind of silent all of a sudden before I said, ''My stuff is still in there. I'll go get it.''

I walked up the steps and remembered I didn't have a key. I sighed and Luke came up the steps, got his key out and opened the door for me. I smirked at him, then walked in. I walked into the living room and grabbed my stuff, which was sitting on the floor. I turned around and in the blink of an eye, I felt our lips connect. A shiver ran up my spine, my hearts beat faster with every moment we kissed and goosebumps formed on every inch of my body. I dropped my gear, forced us to part and slapped him in the face.

''You idiot!'' I yelled.

He put his hand to his cheek and I said, ''Why did you just kiss me like that?! Yes, I notice you drooling over me! Yes, you're incredibly hot and _yes_, you're insanely smart like I am and you know what; I love you.''

I put my arms around his neck and we kissed again passionately. It lasted only a few seconds, but every moment, the sparks grew. It was like we were destined to be together and nothing could pull us apart.

After we parted, he asked, ''Will you date me?''

I paused and said, ''In a month or so. There's too much going on in my life now. Don't tell anyone we kissed. I don't want rumours floating around about us.''

''Okay,'' he agreed.

I let go of his hand, grabbed my stuff and began to walk out when he stopped me, ''Mr. Chandra told me I could take the GCSE's this year. Should I?''

I turned around and said to him, ''Do whatever you think is best. It's your descison. If it were me, I wouldn't take that chance because I would miss you guys too much. Where are you thinking of going?''

''Oxford,'' he said in a mixed tone.

''Er. . . wow. That's- er- really far away. . . I'm sorry. Shouldn't 've said that. I- um- better get going.''

On that awkward note, I went out the door and went over to Dad and Sarah Jane, who were talking about an old adventure they had back then.

They noticed me walking towards them and she asked, ''Everything all right with you two?''

''Oh, yeah. Fine,'' I said in a half convincing voice.

''Are you sure? We heard yelling,'' Dad said.

''Yes, we're fine,'' I said in a frusturated tone as I walked past them towards the TARDIS and opened the doors.

I immediately ran up to my room and shut the door. I threw my football gear into my closet and put my bag near my bed. I began crying because I couldn't even bear the thought of him leaving and going to uni for _four years._ It would be. . . unbearable. Sure, we'd talk on the web cam from time to time and text, but it wouldn't be the same as if he was here. And I would barely get to see him since Oxford is at least an hour away, but I could convince Dad to take me there.

What am I thinking? I need to stop worrying about him and his choices and focus on mine. I'll worry about him when the time comes. Which is in about ten weeks. In that time, I'll probably cry for a whole day straight over him and his choice to take the exam and for him to go to Oxford. Me. Crying over Luke Smith. Wow, I'm pathetic. Now, I only need to worry about football season and our chances at making it to the playoffs. Just that, nothing else.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Hunting Down

9th April 2010

Park Vale/ the TARDIS

I waited impatiently for the bell to ring near the end of sixth period. My hearts began to beat nervously and my anxiety was through the roof. Today is the day. Five more minutes and we're out of here. I put my book and binder away in my bag, zipped it up and put one of the straps over my shoulder.

I began shaking and when Rani caught how nervous I was, she said, ''It's okay. I think you already made it based on what the coach said. She couldn't stop rambling about you the whole time the other day during PSHE.''

''Seriously?'' I asked in shock.

''Seriously,'' Rani said,''She said that you were one of the best football players she's ever seen.''

I spent the next few minutes calming myself down.

A second later, the bell rang and I practically sprinted out the door towards Reception.

''Emma; wait!'' I heard Rani yell a few feet behind me.

I reached the crowded space outside of the office and squeezed by people who were trying to get a look at the lists. Once I made it to the front, I looked on the girls' football team list. I skimmed down to the very bottom and I saw my name above Audrey Vehy and Kayla Young. My hearts stopped beating for a moment because of how shocked I was. The whole world around me seemed to stop for a few seconds. After comprehending what just happened, I made my way through the crowd and found my three friends waiting for me.

I smiled excitedly and announced, ''I'm on the football team!''

. . .

8th May 2010

3rd game of the season

I was assigned to Defence for this match. The last two games, I had been put on goalkeeper and did a pretty decent job of it, according to coach. My hearts were beating out of my chest maddeningly as I approached the ball. Everything around me became silenced as I heard the quick beating of my hearts above everything else. I saw Sarah Jane, Luke, Rani and Clyde cheering me on in the stands. Their presence seemed to calm me down a bit.

The loud whistle of the ref bursted through my ears. That made me snap out of my anxiety, so I ran towards the ball and kicked it with full force. One of my opponents at the other end jumped up and bounced the ball on her forehead, which made it fly over to the left side of the field about fifty metres from me. I sprinted near it and won the fight for it. I flew past the other players and when a player from the other team ran towards me, I spun around past them all while trying to maintain posession of the ball. I was about twenty feet away from the goal, so I fired it towards the net.

The goalkeeper jumped through the air and caught it with no difficulty what so ever. The ref blew the whistle and the opposing team got to start the next play. For the next hour, I made at least thirteen shots on goal and only one of them ended up in the net. The ref blew the whistle and one of the other team's players got to start the second half of the match.

I prepared myself because she was heading right towards me. In the blink of an eye, I felt the rush of the wind go past me as I saw her heading for the goal. I ran towards her and got a piece of the football. I ran with it for a second until she pushed me away from it slightly. I immediately ran to the ref and complained that he didn't call a penalty. He then blew the whistle and threw the red flag. The girl who pushed me then came over and complained that she didn't do anything to me.

''Yes, you did!'' I yelled.

''All I did was go like that,'' she said, pushing me a bit harder than she did on the field.

I immediately pushed her back and the ref had to split us up because she was about to punch me in the face.

''Sit down, both of you! Ten minutes on the bench!'' he yelled.

I sighed in frustration and went over to the bench. I grabbed my towel and wiped the sweat off of the back of my neck. Some of my teamates came over and slapped me on the back. My coach, however, was pretty mad at me. After the grueling ten minutes were over, both of us got to go back in.

The ref came over to us and said, ''I want you two to get along! No threats, nothing! Got it?''

I nodded weakly and went over to my position. She went over to hers and glared at me while walking. The ref blew the whistle and I half ran towards the ball. I jogged with it because I was kind of out of energy and I wanted to try and stay away from her, even though I knew she was going to come towards me just to start a fight. I passed it to Kayla, who ran with it for a few seconds until the girl who pushed me took posession of it. I sprinted up to her and stuck my foot to the ball. I noticed she did at the same time, which made the ball fly up in the air. I jumped as high as I could in the air and when I blinked, I felt the ball connect with my head painfully. She got to the ball first, but it seems that I recieved most of the impact.

Upon the impact, I felt my head snap backwards as a reaction to the blow. I fell to the ground with surprising force and I felt like the whole world around me was spinning. I managed to roll my body over because the light burned my eyes. I didn't dare open my eyes because the light felt like it would make my eyes melt. My head just didn't throb; it felt like something was tearing apart inside my mind because of the impact. I felt shadows come near me and muffled voices asking me if I was all right and, for some reason, they were asking me what my name was, when my birthday was and how old I was.

I didn't open my eyes and a sudden feeling of confusion came over me. What happened to me? Soon the pain subsided and I slipped into darkness. This type of darkness was similar to the one I experienced before the dream I had when I first met Clara.

A red and brown blur then appeared. I found myself sitting in a hard wooden chair. The woman in front of me looked very farmiliar. She wore a long red dress and she was standing in front of me. She was smirking.

''Hey there, superstar,'' she greeted.

My head no longer hurt and felt more than fine. It seemed that I was in the Victorian era because of the design of the building we were in and her style of clothing.

''Er. . . Clara, right?'' I asked for comfirmation.

''You got it, Em,'' she said, calling me by an uncommon nickname.

''Why do I keep dreaming about you? What do you have to do with me?''

''I have something to do with your Dad. A future version of him, anyway. Right now, we're both dreaming. Once I wake up, I'll forget all about this, but you won't. I'm not supposed to remember this because it's not my time. The only thing I have to do with you is that I'm sort of a. . . messenger to you, so it's obviously important for you to dream about me. Speaking of messages, you have to look for your prophecy. You alone have to find it soon. That's all I can say.''

''But how do you know this? Who's telling you this?''

''A voice inside my head is. That is, when I'm awake. I just remember what to tell you when I dream. The only con is that I forget it all once I wake up. Get it?''

''Er. . . yeah. Where am I supposed to find it?''

''In the forest where all the ancient books of time are kept.''

''The library? The TARDIS library? I've been in there a thousand times and _never_ thought to look.''

''Well, now's the time.''

''Can you at least give me a hint?'' I asked anxiously.

''Sorry. Can't. Oh, and I know you and a certain boy locked lips a few weeks ago. He is so hot. You should date him. I mean, really. You two would look so cute together.''

''How could you know that? No one knows about that!''

''Let's just say I was nearby when it happened.''

''Er. . . no you weren't. Who are you?''

''I told you it's not my time yet. You're not supposed to know until you dream about me next time. Now, it's time for me to go and for you to wake up.''

She turned around and walked out of the building while I sat there and felt suddenly felt tired. My head drooped down and I felt myself going back into reality.


	23. Chapter 23

**I know the timing is kind of wrong with this, but I didn't want to skip ahead another year.**

Chapter 23

This Calls for Celebration

18th June 2013/ 18th June 2010

Amy and Rory's house/ Park Vale/ the TARDIS

My alarm clock went off and I groaned exasperatingly. I reached over to the bed stand and turned it off. I took the covers off me and climbed out of bed. I made my way down the stairs and Amy greeted me.

''Good morning,'' she said, pouring tea into a mug, ''How did you sleep?''

''Not very well,'' I replied honestly, ''Thanks again for letting me stay.''

She set the mug down on a placemat as I said that and sat down.

''Well,'' she said, sighing, ''that's normal for what you're going through. And I'm glad to have you here. It gets really lonely when Rory's on the night shift. Are you coping any better?''

I took a sip from the mug and said, ''After that advice you gave me; definitely. The good thing is we have all summer together and then he leaves four days after the first day of school.''

''That's good,'' she said in a positive tone.

''We might go on a date tonight after the exams, that is, if our parents agree.''

''Ooo, where are you thinking of going?''

''I dunno, out to dinner, the mall, something like that.''

I got out of my seat, went over to the pantry, opened it and grabbed a breakfast bar. I went back to my seat, tore open the package and ate a bite out of it.

''That's nice. When's your Dad picking you up?''

''I have no clue. Let's just hope he doesn't forget.''

After I said that, Rory came in the door with his scrubs on and a large office bag swung on his right shoulder.

''Morning,'' he greeted as he shut the front door.

Amy went over to him, briefly kissed him on the cheek and said in a slightly flirtatious tone, ''Morning, doctor.''

I rolled my eyes and continued eating my breakfast. Rory put his bag down and came over to the kitchen. He sat down across from me and asked, ''Feeling any better?''

''Mostly. I just have to focus on the positives and I'll be okay,'' I answered.

''Definitely. Who are you dating again?''

''Luke Smith. His Mum used to travel with Dad.''

Amy went over to him, wrapped an arm around his and said to him, ''He is really cute. She certainly knows how to point them out.''

I blushed embarrasingly because she was obviously exaggerating.

''Emma has a photo of him. You have to see it,'' she said.

I got out of the chair, went up the steps and walked in to my room. It wasn't actually _my_ room, it's the guest room, but I'm the one that uses it the most. The moment I walked in, I wondered why I was in there. I walked around to try and jog my memory, but nothing came to mind. Since the concussion, I had been experiencing slight short term memory loss, a normal symptom for this type of brain injury, according to Dad. I was out for the whole season because of the high severity of it and wasn't allowed to return to school for three weeks. I've also been having painful migraines and experienced dizziness, also two other common symptoms. Apparently, these symptoms I've been having are called Post- Concussion Syndrome and they could last for a few months or they could be permanent.

The reason finally sparked in my mind, so I went over to my bag, got out my wristlet and pulled the picture of him and I out of the clear compartment. Once I returned down stairs, I gave Rory the picture and after he looked at it, he handed it back to me.

''He looks like a good kid,'' he said.

''He is. A very good one. I'm so lucky to have him in my life.''

''He's lucky to have such a brilliant and beautiful girlfriend.''

I blushed slightly and then went up the stairs to get ready. I dressed into jean shorts, a nice top that I got from Amy for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and flipflops. I gathered my things into the bag that I brought with me after I was all ready and when I walked down the steps, I heard the engines of the TARDIS faintly, but with every moment, it grew louder. Amy and Rory rushed in the living room as the time machine materialised right in the middle of it. I stood beside them as the door creeked open. Dad stepped out and asked curiously, ''I'm not too late, am I?''

''You're right on time, surprisingly,'' I answered as I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a hug.

He returned it gently and said after we parted, ''Well. . . that's rare.''

He turned to my grandparents (who are, in fact, only 25) and said cheerfully, ''The Ponds! Thank you for letting her stay it was an absolute nightmare last night, but nevertheless, we best be off!''

He strutted back into the TARDIS and I quickly said goodbye to my grandparents before we took off. Once I walked in, he asked, ''How was it?''

I put my bag down next to the coat rack and said,''Good. Amy gave me some pretty helpful advice and I'm hoping to put it to use.''

''Helpful how?'' he asked, casually pulling down a lever.

''Well, you know, how to cope when your boyfriend's at uni and how not to look like you've been crying over him.''

''A helpful guidebook by Amy Pond,'' he joked.

He pulled down the emergency brake and before I forgot, I asked him, ''Can I go on a date with Luke tonight?''

He sighed, leaned on the console and said, ''Er. . . sure. Where to?''

''We haven't really decided yet. Dinner, a film, the mall maybe.''

''That's just. . . dull. _Really?_ Dinner, a film or the mall? How about I'll take you to a planet instead? He'd like that, won't he?''

''If you insist. I think he would.''

We walked out and found Clyde, Rani and Sarah Jane waiting by the car.

''We've been waiting for you for ages,'' Clyde said, ''Where have you been?''

I gave him a confused look and said, ''At my grandparent's place. Why are you so concerned about me all of a sudden?''

''I was just wondering,'' he said, climbing into the back seat of Sarah Jane's little blue car.

''We'll have her back in a couple hours. No need to worry,'' Sarah Jane said.

Dad gave her a slightly confused look and said, ''I thought she-''

I gave him a warning sign to tell him to not finish that sentence.

''-was going to the shops with them after,'' he stalled without hints of deceit in his voice.

_You're off the hook this time_, I thought as a warning to him.

_What? She doesn't know?_

_He refuses to tell her, although I don't know why. He's probably worried on what she would think about us._

_ Well, my guess is that she would probably react the way your Mum did._

_ I. . . don't think she'd be excited by it. My perspective on it is that she'll be shocked, then excited._

She looked at Rani and I in complete confusion. After a few moments of silence, Rani spoke up.

''We were going to tell you after Luke gets out of testing.''

''Oh, well alright, then. Let's go before it gets any later. Thanks for bringing her, Doctor. We'll be back in a few hours.''

''Yep. Have fun,'' he said before he walked back to the TARDIS.

Rani got into the passenger seat and I got in the back seat. Sarah Jane got into the driver's side, started it and backed out. As she drove down the street, we sparked up a conversation.

''Do you think Luke got a perfect score?'' Rani asked.

''I wouldn't be surprised. Even if he didn't know one of the answers, he could just make it look like he knew what he was talking about,'' Clyde said truthfully.

''I'd have to agree with you on that one, Clyde. He knows how to do that in conversation, too,'' I pointed out.

''Only you would be able to tell,'' he said.

''I can't help it. I'm an alien.''

She turned into the crowded school car park where some students were already coming out of testing. She parked near the entrance and we got out, then waited for him by the car. A few minutes later, he came out and announced that he had successfully passed and all four of us congratulated him. We left the school and went back to Sarah Jane's house where we celebrated his achievement for about an hour or so until she reminded us about our outing to the shops.

''Oh, yeah. Is it all right if we go now?'' Rani asked her.

''Go, have fun,'' she encouraged, ''but be back by seven.''

The four of us said our goodbyes and walked out. Once we were out of her range of vision, Luke took his hand in mine and walked beside our friends. When she saw us holding hands, Rani commented, ''You two are so adorable together.''

''Thanks,'' I said as we continued to make our way towards the shops.

We walked along the sidewalk for a few minutes more, talking about Luke's present feelings about going to uni and graduation next year until we reached the shops. It was pretty typical for a High Street; the shops lining both sides of the street, flats up above and crowds flocking towards a few favoured shops. At the end of the street, I saw Dad leaning up against the TARDIS, apparently waiting for us.

''What took you so long?'' he joked as we approached him.

''We took the long way, remember?'' I joked back.

My friends looked completely confused at that time traveller's inside joke. They were looking at him like he was some type of long-lost Greek god.

I guess I should start the introductions since the awkward silence is killing me.

''Dad, this is-''

''Rani Chandra, Clyde Langer and Luke Smith,'' he said, stealing my thunder once again.

''How does he know our names? He doesn't even look like him,'' Clyde pointed out.

''Time traveller, remember? You met me in my last regeneration. The TARDIS should've given you a hint. Emma, I thought you were just bringing Luke.''

''Well, we had to bring the whole crew because you said I was going with them. And besides, they've never been in the TARDIS before, so it would be a pretty cool outing.''

''You're right. You _are_ right about that one.''

He turned towards the two doors, popped his neck and rolled his shoulders (which earned stares from all four of us). He opened the two doors triumpthantly and walked proudly into the control room to show it off. I followed behind him and turned around to see the expressions on their faces. Rani looked like she was about to faint, Clyde looked freaked out and Luke looked at it in awe.

''It's- it's-'' Clyde stammered, trying to find the right words.

''Bigger on the inside,'' Rani finished for him.

''I _love_ when people say that,'' Dad said to me before he went down the steps and closed the doors.

Luke walked around the console, examining and admiring every piece of it.

I walked up behind him and said, ''Cool, huh?''

''It's incredible. Mum always told me stories about the TARDIS, but I never thought I would actually _be_ in it.''

''This is just the start,'' I said.

Dad was busy moving the zig zag plotter when I said that and as he was starting the ship up, my friends looked at him in astonishment at how fast he was moving around the console. Once she zoomed off into the time vortex with unstoppable speed, Rani sat in a chair and was gripping both sides of it tightly, Luke grabbed hold of the side of the console and Clyde held a death grip on one of the railings. The time machine made a hard landing, making all five of us fall to the ground.

I turned to Rani, who was closest near me and said, ''You get used to it.''

I pushed myself up and stood, then helped Luke up. Rani and Clyde stood but slightly stumbled while doing so. Dad, however, had already bounded over to the doors and they were wide open.

He breathed in awe and said, ''Welcome to Galaxy 2849 of the Klypton Cluster.''

**Sorry for the cliffhanger, just to let you know, I'm going to be on vacation starting next week and I'm probably not going to update until the middle of July. Sorry for the inconvienience.**


	24. Chapter 24

**I'm back! : ) These past few weeks have been so incredibly hectic, but nevertheless, I managed to get through the jet lag to write this for you, my awesome readers!**

Chapter 24

Conflict, A Strange Dream and Battle Plans

19th October 6824

Galaxy 2849 of the Klypton Cluster

''Er- the what of the what?'' Clyde asked in a completely confused tone.

Dad turned around, faced him and said quickly, ''Galaxy 2849 of the Klypton Cluster. We are in the very corner of the universe and about a couple trillion lightyears from Earth. This galaxy in particular is famous for its stunning views, but you might want to watch out because it's also widely known for a hot spot called 'Thieve's Gold'.''

''What's Thieve's Gold?'' Luke asked, looking from him to me.

I shrugged and Dad answered, ''It's a small district in the capital where thieves flock to try and steal anything they can off you, but don't worry, we won't go there. Fourtunely for you, I know my way around.''

A few minutes later. . .

I ran with all my might through the cobbled brick streets near the edge (I hope) of Thieve's Gold. Dad ran in front of us, but I was kind of struggling to keep up. My friends were of worse luck; they were at least ten metres behind me. Once Mum finds out what we did today, let's just say it isn't going to be pretty. The last time she found out about a sketchy planet that Dad accidentally took me to, he was subject to her fierce yelling and had to sit through a three hour long lecture on how stupid and immature it was to take me to such a 'dangerous' place. The only thing sketchy about the planet was the people, but they just minded their own buisness most of the time and the only time I felt uncomfortable was when creepy looking aliens stared at me because of my apparent 'widely- known' status.

''It's her! It's really her! The Girl of Two Worlds is here!'' a man yelled.

I ran harder, knowing that the moment I was announced, everyone in the tiny district would be charging after me. People of all height and age poured into the narrow street after me. I began to get extremely nervous, which was exhausting added in with my workout.

I decreased my speed a bit and yelled for the only person in the universe who could help me now, ''Dad!''

He turned around, saw my predicament and ran towards me with lightning speed. Behind me, I heard my friends become hostage. I stopped and turned to them. They were being dragged by the arm toward an alleyway. They were begging to be let go and they yelled for me. I turned around and saw nothing but a black wall. I kind of paniced at first, but then again, I should be used to this sort of thing. Out of curiosity, I reached my hand out slowly and touched the incredibly hot wall. I winced and pulled my hand back quickly. I looked at my palm and there was a note in my handwriting that read: Don't look back. The message faded into fiery ashes and they fell to the ground.

The note was probably either from Mum or my future self because our handwriting is pretty similar. I obeyed the message, sat down on the floor and waited in the darkness. After a few minutes of waiting, I became weary. I was so tired that I didn't even remember falling asleep. However many minutes or hours later, I awoke to a throbbing pain in the back of my head. I had had many migraines in the back of my head, but this felt different. It didn't just throb, it stung. I put my hand to the sight of the pain and when I felt a small hole in the back of my head, I immediately pulled my hand back to reveal blood running down my hand from the injury I had just felt. How did this happen?

I remembered the note I recieved before I fell asleep. I concurred that the handwriting was mine, so I rummaged through my pocket and once I found my sonic, I put it to the torch setting and I managed to find a sharp enough rock to write with. Using my sonic as a torch, I wrote backwards the note I had recieved from my future self. After I was done with that, I threw the rock down to the ground, turned my sonic off and pocketed it. I did what I wasn't meant to do then: look back.

A bright light met my eyes. I saw Dad in a chair near my lifeless physical body. I was still alive, but only just. I was a tad confused as to how the pain of my physical wound had been felt in my subconsious body, but I concluded that the injury was particularly life-threatning to me and that I would regenerate for the first time.

I felt my body pull back out of the subconsious world. The soft sheets touched my skin and the atmosphere of the room felt cold, yet my forehead was burning up. The injury I sustained had gone numb from all of the pain. My eyes opened and they fell upon a white and brown blur. Dad's hand carefully stroked my hair, looked me in the eyes and said, ''I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. How are you feeling?''

''What exactly happened? My head feels _absolutely horrible_.''

He examined my injury, went over to the medical cabinet and grabbed a small torch. He came over to me, looked at it with the torch and said, ''I was running as fast as I could towards you. Someone hit you with the end of a gun. I managed to get you out before they could grab you.''

By that point, he had crossed to the medical cabinet and had put the torch away. He turned around and leaned against the counter.

''How long will it take this to heal?'' I asked.

''Not long.''

''Is it possible for me to get sick from this?'' I asked curiously.

''If the wound were to somehow not heal, then yes, but since that's out of the question, then no. Why do you ask?''

''I was just curious,'' I answered.

For some reason, the memory shot up in my mind about how Clyde was ''sick'' on the first day of school. Everything connected from before I was knocked unconsious and I said under my breath, ''Luke.''

Oh my gosh, I'm a bad girlfriend. I forgot about my boyfriend and my friends. All about them being taken captive. Wow, this was an epic fail.

''Do you know where they took them?'' I asked.

''Emma, I know what you're thinking, but you need to rest for at least a little while longer and then we'll get them.''

''Dad, really. You've never given up on anyone no matter what condition you were in so why should I?''

He sighed deeply, looked into my eyes and said, ''You're right. Let's go get them.''


	25. Chapter 25

**Classic DW fans are gonna be bouncing off the walls for one part in this chapter and I'm hoping I do it justice! : )**

Chapter 25

Rescue Mission

19th October 6824

Galaxy 2849 of the Klypton Cluster/ the TARDIS

Dad landed the TARDIS silently and I ran to the doors and opened them. In front of me was a wide steel door and I looked back at him.

''Really?'' I asked.

''I didn't want to blow our cover.''

I groaned, turned towards the door of the room we were in and opened it. Dad followed me after locking the TARDIS and closed the door firmly. Dad ran past me as I looked at the label on the door.

''Emma, come on!'' he said, grabbing my hand and forcing me to come with him.

As we ran down the wide, dark hall, I asked, ''Janitor's closet? Really?''

He ignored my question and we kept running. I was about to run ahead of him a few minutes later, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back behind him. He poked his head out from behind the corner for a second, then said, ''I've never seen these creatures before, but then again, we're in the corner of the universe.''

I was shocked. ''You're a thousand years old and you've never seen them before? You must have at least once-''

''SShhh,'' he said, looking down at me seriously.

''Sorry,'' I whispered in a guilty tone.

He looked back and by the loud hissing noise, I knew that our cover was blown. He turned, stood up against the brick wall, got out his screwdriver and said to me, ''Stay here.''

A loud blast was heard and it hit the wall we were hiding behind. Dust hit his tweed jacket and I asked him, ''How are you going to defend yourself with that?''

He turned to me and said, ''You'd be surprised how much I've updated it.''

With a fresh batch of over-confidence in his system, he extended his sonic, tested it out, then sprinted to the middle of the hall. He pointed it towards the adversary and lighted it. Sparks flew and the creature yelled in agony. I looked from behind the wall and saw the creature we were facing.

It was extremely thin. Its body resembled that of a human's physical make up excluding its head formation. It had an octagon-ish shape head, its eyes were small black beads and the eye lids opened and closed horizontally. The teeth and mouth were also horizontally aligned. Its limbs weren't exactly . . . fully connected and it was at least seven feet tall. Just the sight of it made me freeze in terror. I didn't know _how_ Dad was facing it without being completely frightened. It turned towards me and Dad yelled, ''Emma! Get back!''

I turned back and leaned against the wall right before I felt the brick explode beside me. The loud buzzing of the screwdriver made more sparks fly which made the creature even more aggravated. While it was distracted, Dad sprinted towards me, grabbed my hand and we took off running again. To my surprise, the creature didn't even follow us when I looked back.

''It's not following us!'' I yelled to Dad when I turned back.

''Just keep running!''

We turned a corner and I asked, ''Do you have an idea of where they are?''

''Nope, but we're heading towards the dungeon. . . I hope,'' he answered with doubt in his voice.

I stopped, took my sonic out of my pocket, extended it and put it to the track setting. The screwdriver beeped quietly, so I turned the other direction and it beeped louder.

''I'm so glad I have you,'' he said happily.

We kept walikng, but when he came to a realisation, he stopped and said,''I don't even remember putting that setting on there.''

We started walking and I said, ''I put it on there just in case we needed it.''

''You're brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.''

''Thanks, but this one was pretty obvious.''

''Why do you say that?''

''Because it was. If you were looking for someone, wouldn't it be a bit helpful if you had some sort of tracking device?''

''No, I mean when did you start becoming an expert on screwdrivers?''

''I'm not that smart, I just found a way to put more settings on it and this type just popped into my head.''

''Emma, people don't just learn this stuff overnight. . . even the wisest Gallifreyans, even me when I first started, had a hard time trying to put just one setting on it.''

''I'm not going to become some sort of screwdriver enthusiast if that's what you're saying!,'' I said, becoming slightly hot tempered.

''That is _not_ what I'm saying!'' he half yelled as he grabbed my shoulder and turned me towards him, which made me lose my grip on the settings button. He sighed, taking hold of his emotions, then resuming, ''Look, my point is that you are so smart for your age that you have enormous potential to pursue whatever you want.''

I sighed in frustration and said, ''That's not possible for me because of some _stupid_ prophecy.''

He froze in shock and immediately asked, ''How did you find out about it?''

''Do you remember on the first day of school when I ran into an encounter with the Dream Lord?'' He nodded and I continued, ''Well, after, he told me about it. I don't know what it says, all I know that it's about my future and my destiny. He told me that you know about it.''

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw the creature we were facing before, so I looked back, but it was gone when I did. I turned to face Dad, but he wasn't beside me anymore. I heard a thud and a groan below me and before my eyes, I saw him on the ground. His leg was covered in blood and the wound looked ghastly.

''Dammit,'' I said under my breath as I bent down beside him.

_What am I gonna do? I'm not strong enough to carry him. I have to get him away from here before he comes to any further harm_, I thought.

He coughed heavily and blood rolled down the side of his face.

''Emma,'' he whispered in a desperately weak voice, ''get me out of here. Carry me. There's no other way to do it, but I know you can. You're strong enough.''

I was about to protest when he said confidently, ''Emma. Amelia. Song. You _can_ do this. I have complete faith in you. I'm sorry, but we'll have to go back for your friends later.''

Tears brimmed in my eyes as so many different thoughts whizzed around my head. I carefully put both arms under him and as I bent my legs and pushed myself up, I said, ''You've saved me too many times, but now it's time I saved you.''

A few silent tears made their way down my face, I was breathing heavily and I wasn't sure I could take even a step, but I ignored the thoughts and began running through the dark maze. I used my telepathic connection to signal the TARDIS and to my pleasure, it appeared a few seconds later after I turned a corner. It was about a hundred metres in front of me. I looked down to check on him and gold regeneration energy was surrounding him.

''No! No, no, no, no! Don't regenerate! It's not time yet! Don't go, Dad! Don't go!''

I forced my hands to produce regeneration energy and his formed with mine, going directly to his wound. I ran faster, kicked open the doors of the TARDIS and ran up the steps. I collapsed with him on the glass floor and cried tears of exhaustion and joy. They cascaded down my face and hit the floor.

''Hey, don't cry. What are you crying for?'' he asked in a whisper, putting a comforting arm around my shoulder.

I immediately wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. He recieved it greatfully, kissed the top of my head and whispered in my ear, ''You saved my life and I will be forever greatful towards you. You were so brave.''

I inhaled the scent of his tweed jacket and then we parted.

''What happened to you?'' I asked curiously.

''I think I know where they are,'' was all he said.

''Where? We were pretty close to the dungeon-''

''I don't think they're in the dungeon,'' he said, going over to the computer.

I caught up to his train of thought and asked, ''How could they be-''

A loud banging noise that was coming from the roof made me stop talking. We looked up, then looked at each other. Dad had his 'I have a plan' face on while I was kind of freaked out knowing that those creatures could even attempt to get into the time machine. While the banging noise continued, he turned to me and said, ''Emma, run. Just run as fast as you can away from here. I'll hold them off and find them just run!''

I could hear at least two of them trying to force their way in here. One partially tore its way through the wall. Dad was busy trying to put the shields to maximum when he looked over to me.

''Go!'' he yelled before he turned his concentration to the controls.

''I can't just leave you here-''

''They're after me! They see me as the highest threat, so I'm trying to get the TARDIS to avoid further damage! Go! I'll catch up with you later!''

I watched him pull a jammed lever up as the console sparked. Once I heard the hissing of the creature, I turned back and ran. After a minute of running, my connection with the TARDIS reached an unimaginable peak. I was walking down a corridor when I heard a loud scream in my head from her. It was like she was being intruded and hurt immensely at the same time. It made my head throb, so I put my hand to the sight of the pain and rubbed it. Thankfully, it stopped a few seconds later, but I was still traumatised by it after. Thoughts swirled around my head, making me paranoid that the creatures hijacked the ship, tore the console apart and killed Dad. I could picture it clearly, but I didn't let it bother me too much.

_My current console room is too dangerous! I'm going to send you to a few archived rooms so you don't run into any more trouble!_ she yelled inside my head.

_Thank you_, I thought back in relief.

I ran down the corridor as she sent me directions to one of the archived console rooms. I turned a corner and opened the door of one of the rooms. I walked in and she hummed, sensing my presence as if she knew who I already was, but then again, the TARDIS is everywhere; the past, the present and the future. This one wasn't as massive or grand-looking as the current one, but it fit. The walls were white and overlapping the walls were large white cutout circles. The console itself was pentagon shaped, steel and the matrix was circular and very bulky compared to the current matrix. I also noticed a golden coat rack and a chair near the door. The sound of the thick doors opening on the other side of the room made me jump, so I ran for cover towards the wall.

_There's no need to worry. They can't hear or see you_, she informed me.

I came out of my hiding spot just as a girl about a year or two older than me and an elderly man came into the ancient time machine. The girl had black hair and she was dressed in 1960's Earth style clothing. Once she walked in and looked at every inch of it in awe, she said, ''Oh, grandfather, this is incredible.''

The man had made his way around the console, studying it intently and I completely froze once I figured out that he was the first incarnation of my father. I- I never knew he had a grandaughter. I don't even know barely anything about his past incarnations, but I thought that this would be the perfect time for me to learn about it.

''Yes, it is very remarkable. . .we better hurry,'' he said as he piloted the ship into the time vortex for the first time.

I walked out of the room towards the door to the corridor in the current TARDIS and it opened automatically for me. Once I walked out, I heard the door close behind me and I kept running through the maze of octagon arched corridors. While running, I past the swimming pool and one of the kitchens. I thought that I might do a couple laps since I'm working out so much today. I kept running for a while until I found myself in one of the more recent console rooms. As with the other room, she hummed as I entered through the side and found that this console had a. . . darker tone to it. The console was illuminated with green LED lights and the matrix was huge. It was the size of a column and a few long cylinders were inside it. Their were coral- like beams surrounding the room. Honestly, I kind of hated it because I wasn't used to it. I mean, I kind of liked it, but at the same time, I didn't like it.

I heard the sound of the key opening the door on the other side, but remembering what she told me last time, I sat comfortably in what I think is the pilot's chair. When I heard the door open, I peered over to see which regeneration this was. The man casually whistled as he took his long brown coat off, threw it on one of the beams and walked towards the console. He looked at the computer on the other side and I walked over to the other side to see what he looked like up close. He wasn't as tall as Dad, but he wore Converse, brown pants, a brown suit, a red tie and a white undershirt. His hair was brown and spiked up and he had enormous sideburns, much unlike his current self.

_Which regeneration is this?_ I asked her.

_His tenth_, she answered.

_Tenth? Well, that was a huge jump._

He turned in my direction and stared at me for a second, then his brown eyes wandered around the console room.

''Hello? Is someone there?'' he asked.

_Run, Emma! He heard you, but only for a second; the connection between you and him sparked! _

I sprinted out of the door I entered through and while I was running, he turned in the direction I was running, like he could hear my paniced footsteps. I ran right into the same console room, but a different man was piloting the ship.

_Please tell me I'm still invisible_, I thought.

_Don't worry, you are_, she answered.

_Is the connection still up?_

_No. I'm sorry for the other incident. The only reason he heard you is because of what incarnation he was in. The closer he is to his eleventh, the more he can hear you, but only faintly. The connection with your parents officially started on your 13th birthday._

_I'm guessing he's in his ninth now?_

_Yes, he is._

I walked around the console and looked at him. He was taller than his tenth regeneration, but it looked like Dad was about two or three inches taller than him. He had somewhat of a buzz cut and he wore jeans, a blue v-neck t-shirt and a leather jacket. A girl who looked about 19 or 20 with blonde hair, jeans and a pink t-shirt on walked in from the other side of the room.

He looked up and when he saw her, he said, ''Rose! Just the person I was looking for! How would you like to go to a planet where the beaches have automatic sand?''

She seemed impressed. ''I like your thinking.''

He walked around the console and while he was piloting the ship into the time vortex, I went out into the corridors again. I began to walk, but when I saw one of the creatures in the reflection on one of the lights, I sprinted as fast as I could through the twisting corridors. I turned around once in a while to find that it was getting closer and closer to me. I ran down the corridor faster and faster, but as I got halfway through one of the long corridors, I felt the floor below me flip on its side. Gravity was lost and I felt myself fall down quickly. I looked up and saw the creature looking down on me. I looked down and saw that nothing was below me and I was just falling through a deep black hole until I hit a black floor.

I looked up to find nothing but fog surrounding me. In the distance, at least a dozen male voices called out to me at different times, ''Help me!''

I stood, looked around for the men who were speaking and called out in a shaky voice, ''Who are you? Who's there?''

''We're his prisoners!'' one of them yelled in hatred.

Prisoners? I didn't know if I should believe them. Dad- Dad would never imprison anyone, but after travelling the universe for over 900 years, he had to make _some_ enemies.

''From what?'' I asked with much curiosity in my voice.

''You're a companion. That's why you don't know anything. Many of his companions have stumbled upon us while wandering around this vessel.''

''I'm not a companion, I'm his daughter!,'' I said in offense.

''His daugher? You're the Girl of Two Worlds?'' another one of them asked.

''I am. Are you, by chance, Gallifreyan?'' I asked.

''We are,'' the other one answered.

''Show yourselves,'' I demanded, searching through the foggy darkness for signs of any figures.

''Emma!'' I heard Dad a few metres behind me.

''Emma!'' he said in displeasure. I felt him come behind me, grab my hand tightly and pull me away.

''How did you get here?'' he asked in a solemn tone, pulling me closer to his side.

''By mistake. I was running from the creature-''

''Don't you _ever_ come in here again, wether by mistake or not. You wouldn't understand, and don't ask me about it. They are my buisness, my secret. _Do not_ tell your mother about this, _ever_.''

We were still in the dark, foggy tunnel at that point and Dad still held me very close to him while holding my hand tight. We were quickly walking through it.

''Have you found them yet?'' I asked a few seconds later.

''They're in the console room,'' he answered.

I was relieved to hear that, but then I asked, ''What about the creatures? What are they?''

''I managed to disperse them throughout the ship and keep them away from the control room, but there's a tonne of damage.''

We suddenly ended up in one of the corridors after walking through a steel wall. He pulled me through the corridor and I looked back to see that there wasn't an entrance to it; his secrets need very well thought out hiding places. If I even tried to come back here, the TARDIS would change the location of it easily and besides, I couldn't find anything to help me find the exact spot. We ran in silence through the winding passage ways until I felt a strong vibration underneath my feet. That made me speed up more, as I knew that one of the creatures was on our tail. I heard the close but distant sound of a fusion of hissing and growling. I looked back once we turned a corner and I saw the blurred outline of the creature charging down the corridor, causing the floor to tear apart into pieces. Once I turned around, I felt something tear into my right arm. I can't exactly describe the feeling, it just felt wet and it burned all throughout my arm.

I yelled in pain and Dad had a firm, strong grip on my right hand. He pulled with all his might until I felt my arm release from the creature's grip. The disconnection made me shriek in agony. We ran through the arch until the doors closed a second later. I fell to the hard, unwelcoming ground as I heard the creature pounding and scratching on the door. I breathed deeply and heavily as I lay there in exhaustion and pain. My right arm felt useless and the burn stung like I'd been set on fire. I winced and a small tear made its way down my left cheek. I heard Dad get out his sonic and he scanned me.

''That's not possible. . . that is just _not_ possible at all,'' he whispered to himself.

He stroked my hair gently, put his arm around my shoulder as carefully as he could and helped me to stand. Surprisingly, all I had from the attack was a large, widespread red burn mark. We walked for a bit more until my head started throbbing like mad. I put my left hand to my temple and staggered to the side of the corridor. I leaned against the side of the arch as memories poured through my head. I remembered being captured by the creature just a few minutes ago, it's dragging me through the corridors, I'm calling out for help but no one can hear me. . .

The sound of my head throbbing was the only sound I heard, at best my vision was blurry and I could barely hear Dad calling my name; his voice was a distant echo even though he was right in front of me.

''Emma. . . you're okay. You're all right. . .''

_What. . . happened to me?_ I thought in a desperate but slightly confused voice to him.

''Listen; you are okay. The TARDIS is just making you remember past events; you're not supposed to remember them.''

''I was captured! You didn't save me! You didn't help me! Tell me what happened!'' I demanded in a frusturated and angry tone.

He sighed, put his hands in his face for a moment and said, ''Once the creature got your arm, it created a small tear in your time stream. That's how they work; they hijack ships and take anyone they can prisoner. The TARDIS tried to protect you . . . she temporarily split your timeline, but. . .''

After he said that, he seemed very burdened and stressed. I just couldn't imagine what he was going through.

''So you're saying there are two of me right now in the same moment in time, just in different places? How. . . what about the burn on my arm?''

''It's their mark, their poison. I'm sorry, but since two of you can't exist at the same time. . . you're dying. The poison weakens even you. . . I'm sorry.''

I felt my head throb even faster, my knees shook and gave way and before I hit the floor, I felt him catch me to make sure I didn't hit the floor. The second I did, my eyes opened the slightest bit. A bright light blinded my vision, so I looked down at my burn. It hurt even worse than before and I felt that it had spread up my arm and it was now near my collar bone. I was tied to a bed by some extremely tight black fibre; the bed was in an upright position. A tall figure blocked the light and stared at me with terrifying eyes before I became unconsious once more.

**I am really sorry for the delay, I was going to post this chapter a week ago, but I didn't want to rush it and make the plot all dull and messed up. I had somewhat of a writer's block and then I had this amazing idea, so I got writing and finally finished it up : ) I know this chapter was kind of confusing, so PM me if u have any questions.**


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The First Cycle

21st October 6824

Creature's HQ

I surfaced from unconsiousness as I felt what minimal light their was in the room meet my eyelids. The bindings that constricted my movement became tighter as the moments passed. The bed beneath me felt like I was lying on a hard, rough rock. This was definitely the most uncomfortable experience I've ever had, but I was a prisoner of some foreign alien, so compared to others that were in the same position, my comfortability was way better than theirs.

I was weak from the poison that was in my system and the burn from it was unbareable. My back was the part of my body that hurt the worst. I wanted to find some way to soothe it, but I was in a bad position to do so right now. The sound of movement behind me made my body freeze up and goosebumps appear on my arms. I stayed as still as possible when I felt the person hover over me. When I felt its shadow loom over my body, I became colder than I was moments ago. Another figure appeared on the other side of me as the creature to the right said with a strong hiss in its voice, ''Her burns have increased.''

Okay. . . they can talk. . . this is new. The other agreed, ''Yes; much faster than expected. Are you sure she is the one?''

''Absolutely. Her future is vital to us.''

They were both silent for a few moments until the one to the right said, ''They are here.''

I heard the sound of the TARDIS doors opening and a laser gun went off. The creatures defended themselves instantly by putting an invisible shield around them and me. I opened my eyes and found that the shield around me was electrified. I tried to look back as much as I could to see for a few moments that Mum standing there with her gun pointed at both of the creatures, wholly determined to shoot them dead if any harm came to me. Dad walked out whilst shuffling his feet casually and he winked at me.

''Hello,'' he said as he stood near Mum, who still had her gun firmly in her hand.

I turned back as Dad continued, ''As you may have noticed, I'm the Doctor. Guess who's pointing the gun at you? Her Mother, so if I were you, I wouldn't touch her.''

Her gun went off numerous times as the creatures didn't even flinch as they were hit. I forced my way out of the extremely strong bindings and stumbled to the floor once I was free. The floor was rock solid, which made the pain significantly worse. My muscles were useless to do anything right now and my back ached terribly. The mysterious burn on my body had faded virtually everywhere else except my back. I only knew that because it was the only place where I felt the stinging sensation hadn't ceased. I was slightly sweating and I was very dizzy because of the restricted movement of my limbs over the past few. . . hours, days or weeks. I would have to ask for confirmation once we were out of this mess, but that wasn't my priority right now. The only thing I actually had complete focus on was the back pain, for it was getting worse as the smallest measurement of time passed. I felt like something- or someone- was branding some sort of drawing or script right underneath my skin. The very feeling of it was hard to describe and I was becoming oblivious on the progress they (or more Mum, since she was the one with the weapon) were making on defeating my captors.

All I wanted to do was be rescued and cured of this poisionous burn. Whatever it was doing to me, I wanted to know. Whatever the creatures were, I wanted to know why they're doing this to me. I know I'm basically the second most sought after person in the universe, in terms of wanting to be taken captive, but I was desperate for answers. I was craving answers to my billions of questions and only got a couple of answers that didn't fully explain enough.

The pain continued to spread throughout my back and I didn't think I'd be able to cope any longer. It was so much that it became harder to breathe; I thought a concrete slab was weighing down on my stomach. Everything became numb, blurry and I felt the burn of the poison slither throughout every inch of my veins. In the corner of my eye, the shield around me was becoming strongly electrified, the heat of it was intense and I could see it coming closer towards me. I looked up and saw that the creatures were being defeated easily, but the shield that engulfed me was becoming stronger and stronger as they were getting weaker.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think as the poison and the burn were literally killing me from the inside out. I already felt regeneration energy brewing inside of me as my own personal clock ticked to its final second. The mysterious but familiar gold light was gradually appearing all over my body as I lay there in helplessness.

At the last shot of the laser gun, the creatures were lying on the floor a few metres in front of the shield in a mess of blood and the foul stench of the bodies made me want to vomit.

The next few moments were a bit fuzzy, but I'll try to tell you in as much detail as I can. The blinding gold light appeared more and more as the pain increased from both the poison and the regeneration cycle. The only colours I saw were gold and white as I felt a shockwave of energy surge through me at the speed of sound. Those colours exploded around me in a powerful burst of light. That experience diminished within a few moments and the next thing I knew, I fell to the ground. My body smacked on the cold, rock solid floor, my head did the same as it collided with powerful force to the ground.

As I became unconsious, I heard Mum yell my name like she was a few hundred metres away, but the sound barely connected to my eardrums.

The pulsing, strong sound of my hearts beating was the only sound I heard for a few seconds.

''Emma!'' Mum yelled in the same extremely distant, worried voice.

My eyes barely opened for a second or two to find that I was lying on a bed in the sick bay, but I wasn't facing the ceiling, I was looking at the side of the pillow and the medical cabinet, which told me I was lying on my stomach most likely because Dad wanted to examine and try to heal the burn on my back. I closed my eyes again and welcomed the relaxing feeling of sleep until I awoke in the chair which was in the corner of the room.

_How did I end up here?_ I thought as my eyes stumbled upon a sleeping figure lying on the bed; me. It seemed that what I'm looking at now is my physical body and I'm so deep in my subconsious mind that I'm witnessing this very moment in time, only I'm in my subconsious body.

I turned my attention to the door as Dad came bursting in with a piece of paper in his hand. He was studying it so intently that he almost ran into the wall. He looked up just in time and he seemed kind of annoyed with himself that he did that, but he shook it off and went to the right side of the hospital bed, studying the paper, then the markings on my back. I got up from the chair and approached my physical body to see what injuries I had recieved. The burns were scattered all across my back, almost overlapping each other. The thing that intrigued me the most was that they weren't just marks, they were actual Gallifreyan text. Again, I was mentally asking a thousand questions and wasn't probably going to get any answers, so I just made up theories.

I had extensive knowledge of the language of my home planet, the only problem was that the words were all scrambled. Hidden. . . Child. . . Concieved. . . All of this didn't make any sense. The sound of sobs made me look up and lose my concentration. Dad was actually _crying_. His lip was quivering and his brows were constricted, which signaled a sudden change of emotion. His whole face was turning red as tears streamed down his face. He wiped the tears on the cuff of his tweed jacket as he crossed to the countertop below the medical cabinet. In a fit of anger, his fists smashed the counter time and time again until he crouched down and put his head on the counter and continued crying.

Having heard the noise, Mum rushed in and found him in his current distraught state. She walked over to him and said in an effort to comfort him, ''Doctor, it's fine. There's no need to worry. We're all fine.''

He looked up at her with an exhausted and emotionally drained expression on his face and said, ''After all this time I've tried so hard to protect her, but I've failed, River. I've failed by not giving her any. . . _hope_. Anything to live for. I'm ashamed of myself, completely _ashamed_.''

She put a comforting arm around his shoulder. ''Don't keep wearing yourself down about this. You've given her all the hope in the universe. You've been there for her every time and you _have not_ failed. I would gladly rewrite her future, but you and I both know that it's not possible no matter how hard we try.''

He sighed deeply and said, ''I know.'' He ran his hands through his thick dark brown hair, put both of his hands on the counter and sighed confidently as if he was already putting his grief behind him.

She came over to me and stared in horror and astonisment at my burns. He noticed what she was doing, came up behind her and explained, ''The writing on her back, it's every word of her prophecy, just scattered. I managed to piece it together and every single word fit.''

''You're going to have to tell her, Doctor. She can't be kept in the dark from this forever. . . What about the burns? Are they able to be treated?''

''I'm. . . not sure. We're going to have to wait and see how it heals. Most of the skin on the upper and middle parts of her back were severly burned, so ointment definitely won't be an option. I'll give her an IV and check the progress in a few hours, see what that does.''

He went back to the medical cabinet and picked up an IV kit. He crossed to the right side of me and put a bag full of IV liquid on a metal holster.

''The poison caused the burn, so the fluid will dissolve the poison and eventuallly heal the burn,'' he explained while connecting the line to the bottom of the bag and pulling the cap off of the needle.

Once he put the needle in my arm, I felt my subconsious body pull forward into my physical body and I felt at peace- a rare feeling for me- and given current circumstances, I didn't think I'd feel it again for a long, long time.

**Okay, I'm very excited because the next few chapters really get things going on the whole prophecy ordeal. Some future ideas: I'm probably going to do a prequel of sorts soon before her Mum and Dad find her and what life was like with her adoptive parents. Thanks for all of the follows/favorites/reviews! : )**


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Bonding Time

3rd November 2497

The Caves of the Servena Mts.

on the mainland of the planet Cerverus

My body was quickly running out of energy as I pulled myself up to another stable piece of rock. The heat and scorching temperatures combined with rigorous excercise made me feel like I was about to faint and fall to my death, even though both of us had harnesses on. I looked above me to see Mum effortlessly climbing up the side of the extremely steep mountain. I groaned and asked myself why I ever agreed to go on an expedition which I had obviously underestimated. The only reason I did is because I wanted to spend some rare time with Mum. I had asked while we were about a couple thousand feet below where she was in her timeline and had only answered that she had just been pardoned a few days ago.

I was extremely happy at that answer, but I still didn't know what she was in jail for. I asked Dad a few months ago on the last day of school before we picked her up to celebrate, and all he did was say that it was a long story.

''Aren't you used to physical excercise?'' she called down to me.

''Well, just the running part. I didn't think searching for a crown would be this strenuous,'' I answered back, gripping a part of the rock above me.

''We're almost to the cave,'' she informed me.

I exhaled in relief and said, ''Finally.''

A few minutes later, she made it to the cave and shouted down at me for some encouragment, ''Come on, Emma! You're almost there!''

I climbed and climbed until I reached the cave. Mum held her hand out to me and I took it gladly. She pulled me up and I landed on the hard stone ground. I seriously never thought I would love the ground so much as I do now. I panted and breathed in heavily as I lay there and said, ''I would _love_ to see Dad climb that one day.''

She laughed as she envisioned him climbing the mountain. She rummaged through her pack and got out two canteens of water and handed one to me. I took it and drank gladly. Mum got out her scanner and started checking for any signs of the crown.

After I capped the canteen, I asked, ''Are you sure it's here or did we just climb a mountain for nothing?''

''I'm positive it's here. Gather the climbing gear up, will you? I'm going to scan a bit further on down.''

''Alright,'' I said as I took my harness off and unhooked all the carabiner clips from it. I put mine in a pile with hers and put it near the entrance to the cave.

After walking for a minute, I caught up to her and asked, ''Any luck?''

''Nothing yet,'' she answered with a slightly dissapointed tone in her voice.

I took this opportunity to get to know her a little better, but I first asked questions about this expedition, ''What is it we're searching for again?''

We had made our way through some of the cave by that point and it was getting extremely dark, other than the light that was coming from her scanner, of course, so we pulled out a couple of torches and turned them on. The bright light that was coming from them lighted our way just enough to see a few feet in front of us.

She answered while looking down at her scanner, ''The crown of Emperor Dextris the Third. His entire family ruled the entire Aranian System for a thousand years or so and he was the last one to rule and the last one to wear the crown. Their dynasty was the one to move the whole system towards the Industrialisation Period before the collapse of the monarchy after the emperor was killed in battle.''

I was day dreaming after she said the part about how they reigned for a thousand years, but somehow, even when I'm not listening, the information seems to somehow get into my head and stay there.

''How come we're searching for the crown in a cave? Aren't we supposed to be looking in catacombs underneath the city?''

''Normally, yes, but this crown was sacred and ancient to the empire, so after the collapse and the emperor's death, the new council decided to honour him and his ancestors by putting his crown in the highest mountain in the system, so it would be closest to them when they reached the afterlife temple above the universe.''

I was becoming paranoid once she said that and asked, ''Since the crown is sacred to them, is there some type of curse that comes with it, if we find it?''

She chuckled a bit and answered, ''No, and even if there was, I would still try to find it.''

She paused for a moment, then asked with curiosity, ''How have your adventures with your father been?''

''You know, the usual; crazy, exciting, hectic, kind of scary and. . . fun, I guess, to sum it up in a few words.''

''How have you and Luke been? I haven't heard anything about him the whole time, are you two still together?''

I slightly froze because I did, but at the same time I didn't want to talk about him because he's leaving for uni in a little under two months and every time I even think about him leaving, it makes me kind of emotional.

''Er. . . we've been good and, yeah, we're still together,'' I answered simply without leaving hints of sadness about him going.

Mum became suspiscious at my answer and asked, ''Are you sure? You seemed kind of upset when I asked. . .''

Dammit. The stupid weak flood gates of my emotions were just bursted open when she noticed that I was upset. I began to cry a bit and she put an arm around my shoulder and comforted me.

''Oh, sweetheart, what happened?''

I wiped the tears from my eyes and said, ''He's going to university in two months. To Oxford.''

''University already?'' she seemed slightly confused at what I said.

''He was allowed to take the test early, he passed and now he's going to Oxford and I'm just- I don't know what to feel. I just don't want him to go.''

At that point, we had stopped walking and she was listening to every word I said intently. She gave me an understanding look and said, ''Every night, after the TARDIS would take off into the time vortex, I was left with only one hope that he would come back the next night. You have that same hope as I did and right now, all you have to do is cherish the time you have left with him until he comes home for Christmas. And while he's away, all you have to do is take it one day at a time, alright?''

I sighed and said, ''Alright.''

She gave me a reassuring squeeze, let go of my shoulder and as we walked for a minute more, a question came into my head which I had been meaning to ask her, ''Why were you in jail?''

When I asked that, she was pressing buttons on her scanner, still in the hunt for the crown. She immediately turned to me and sighed deeply. We stopped walking again and all she said was, ''I can't say that you're not old enough or mature enough to understand, that would be rude of me. It just would be too. . . overwhelming for you to take in. . .''

''Mum, please,'' I begged.

She exhaled deeply, grabbed my left arm and forced me gently to face her. ''Emma, if I told you now, you wouldn't look at me the same way again.''

I guess she had a point, but _still_ not knowing made me slightly annoyed. I made a vow that I wouldn't ever allow myself to know, no matter how tempting it was, for both of our sakes. I mean, if she would've told me, then she probably would've regretted it and I, as she said, wouldn't ever look at her the same way again.

Her scanner beeped, indicating that she found the crown and said, ''We've got a lock.''

We ran deep into the cave and after a few seconds of sprinting, we made it to a cliff face. The scanner was beeping loudly and quickly at that point and Mum turned that setting off and said while studying it, ''It's probably way down in there, so I'm going to have to use the explosives.''

She rummaged through her bag and got out a small device about the size of an iPhone.

''This,'' she explained when I looked at the piece of technology in curiosity, ''is a Micro Blaster, capable of causing minimal damage in confined spaces and the best thing is it's indestructible.''

She put the device next to the cliff face, turned it on and we ducked for cover behind a few rocks about fifty metres away from the explosion site. Once we were situated, I covered my ears and eight and a half seconds after that, there was a _boom _and the whole room shook, causing dust and small pieces of stone to crumble from the ceiling of the cave. My ears were ringing like mad and I had to make sure whether I hadn't lost my hearing. We coughed as dust filled our lungs and I looked out from in front of our hiding place. The Micro Blaster was still in the same spot, unharmed other than a few handfulls of dust on it. The cliff face, however, had sustained heavy damage. The cliff was blown apart; tonnes of rock littered the epicentre of the explosion and dust and small stones still rained down from the top of it.

''Oh, yeah, that damage was _really_ minimal,'' I yelled in a sarcastic tone. I rubbed my free hand on my ears once I noticed I was yelling.

''Why are you yelling?'' Mum asked in a normal voice, although it seemed like she was whispering.

Oh crap. Am I almost deaf because of that stupid explosion?

''I- I can barely hear,'' I yelled again. I removed my right hand from my ear to reveal some blood. I was beginning to panic. Why is my ear bleeding?

She noticed me do that and used our telepathic connection, _Emma, keep your hand on there. The only reason this is happening is because your ears are extremely sensitive. . . I never should have done that, I'm sorry._

I put my hand back on my ear and she helped me to sit down against a rock far away from the debris. She got out her med scanner and said in my mind, _You have a temporary TM rupture in both ears and your right ear has moderate bleeding from the external canal. It'll heal within a few days, though._

She put the scanner and the Micro Blaster back in her bag and turned to me.

_I'm going to look for the crown, stay here and I'll be back in a few minutes. If it gets any worse, just holler_, she told me.

_Okay, have fun without me then_, I thought back jokingly.

I watched her walk into the path and as the light from her torch got further and further away from me, I was beginning to get bored. I waited there for about two minutes until my mind wandered on to last week's events with regenerating for the first time and recieving that awful burn. A day after that incident, when I had recovered, Dad had explained to me that the reason I didn't change my appearence and personality is because of my human genes. Apparently, the Gallifreyan genes want to change and the human genes (even though I'm only one fourth human) are keeping it from happening.

In light of past events, I had finally been making progress on figuring out part of my prophecy on my own. It wasn't really about my destiny, mostly about my beginnings. It goes like this:

_Where an ancient name burns in the stars_

_That is where two worlds collide_

_From it conceived a child whose_

_Destiny matched her paternal lineage_

_Universes speak of her forthcoming_

_With anxious voices expanding as time passes_

_Mid-day her first cries echo_

_Amid first hours of life_

_A danger appears_

_History repeats again, but_

_Concludes to her protection_

I was becoming extremely curious as to what my father's descendants did and how their achievments paralleled my destiny. My ear stopped bleeding a minute later, so I removed my hand and wiped the blood on my jeans. A couple minutes after that, Mum came running out of the tunnel with the golden crown in one hand and her torch in the other.

_Emma, run! _she yelled in my mind as I got up from my spot and began to run.

''Stop right there!,'' a man yelled a few feet behind us.

Apparently the crown has a guard. . . but why would they need one if this planet is fully developed? I mean, they could have it locked up in a huge vault with layers of security if they really wanted to. I pondered on that thought while running.

We ran for a few minutes until the entrance to the cave was in clear view. Whom ever was chasing us had a tonne of stamina for a human, because he had been chasing us for at least ten minutes and he wasn't slowing down at all. Mum and I had reached the entrance and we stopped abruptly at the edge. I became a bit dizzy and nauseous at seeing the side of the extremely steep mountain, but Mum gripped my hand firmly to help keep me stable.

I looked back at the man, who was only about thirty metres away from us, looked back at the skyline and asked, _What do we do? We can't just jump. . . _

_ Emma, do you trust me?_

I thought quickly because of our predicament, _Well, yeah, but. . . _

She gripped my hand tighter and said, _Jump._

I exhaled deeply, closed my eyes and jumped out into the open air while my sweaty hand gripped hers tight for my only protection. I felt my body slam on to something rock solid. I opened my eyes and found that we had landed on a white marble floor. I let go of Mum's hand and in front of me, I saw the ancient gold crown roll on its side. It landed on the marble floor and the sound echoed throughout the room. Near the crown, I saw a pair of black leather shoes. I looked up and stared into the quite angry face of Emperor Dextris the Third.

He had a sharp face, slightly balding gray hair and piercing dark brown eyes. He had a very slim figure, even though his royal robes made him look a bit wider. The robes had the family crest on the front and he also wore a black cape which was connected to the robe by gold chains. I'd say he looked about. . . 68 years old or so.

I looked to my left and saw Mum being pulled up from the floor by one of the emperor's guards. He wrapped his huge hand around her right arm to try and restrain her, as she was trying helplessly to get out of his tight grip. I felt a pair of incredibly strong hands grab my arms and force me to stand. I almost got out of his grip when I tried to run out of the room, but when I did, he had an iron grip the sleeve of my shirt. He pulled me closer towards him and chuckled.

''Thought it was that easy, did ya?'' he asked me.

A couple seconds later, the guard who had hold of Mum said, ''I caught them running with your crown, Sire.''

The emperor picked up his crown, approached us and studied our faces. When I saw him up close, something didn't seem right about him. He _looked_ human, but something told me that he wasn't quite what he appeared to be. He waved the crown in our faces, taunting us while asking, ''What reason did you both have to take this?''

''The girl had no part in it, Your Majesty,'' said the same guard who explained it to him.

His voice seemed normal, but I just couldn't pinpoint what it was about him. He walked over to Mum, looked at her with absolute disgust and slapped her in the face. She bellowed in pain as the blow echoed in the large room, and at that point my face began to turn slightly red. I breathed faster and faster as the anger began to quickly rise up my body. I struggled with enormous difficulty to try and break free of the guard as the emperor walked away casually from them and turned his back to me.

I was shoving my whole body against the guard's arms and pulling myself up as much as I could in complete desperation as I yelled in a slightly cracked, dry, but clearly angry voice at him, ''Don't you do that ever again, you cold hearted bastard!''

He proudly put his crown on his head, turned around and yelled while looking at me with fierce, threatning eyes, ''_LOCK THEM UP!''_

The two guards who were restraining us lead us (by this I mean dragged, because I wasn't exactly containing my anger and Mum was in so much pain from being slapped) down about six flights of winding steps to the dungeon. One of the guards opened the iron gate and both of them shoved us in the small cell before closing the squeaking gate shut.

As they were leaving, I scrambled over to Mum and asked in worry, ''Mum?''

I heard her groan in pain as she stayed lying on her side away from me.

_Just let me rest, Emma_, she thought to me.

I let her be as I went off to the other corner of the cell and began to search every inch of the cell for an escape route. I felt every corner of the wall behind me to see if there was some sort of crack or hidden door which I could put to use. The result lowered my expectations of escaping, but gave me more time to figure out what happened when we had retrieved the crown. All of it just didn't make sense. The guards, the emperor; they're all from the past. How could they just appear out of nowhere just when the crown was stolen. . .

Suddenly, it all clicked and I pulled out my sonic and unlocked the door. I pushed it forward and it opened loudly. The sound made Mum sit up and look from me to the door.

''Oh, you're brilliant,'' she said proudly.

I grinned and said, ''Thanks.'' I walked out of the cell and she followed behind me. I saw that a red mark had appeared where the emperor had slapped her and felt very guilty about it.

We walked up the winding stairs for a minute until I had the nerve to speak to her about past events.

''I'm sorry about what he did-''

''Don't be sorry, Emma. It wasn't your fault. None of us knew what would happen and the only person you should blame is him. Sometimes, when we're protecting something we cherish, it's only instinct to punish the person who stole it.''

She had an extremely valid point, then asked me, ''How's your hearing?''

''It's almost back to normal,'' I answered.

We were almost to the grand hall by then and then Mum asked with her voice lowered, ''What's the plan?''

''You'll see,'' I said as we slowly climbed the last few steps.

I poked my head out from the top of the steps and saw that the hall was completely empty of guards. I heard them across the hall talking and laughing while enjoying a feast in the courtyard. They were too focused on the food and the people around them to notice anything else. I quietly walked out into the hall and motioned for Mum to follow me. She followed me to the emperor's throne, which had red velvet cushions and on the top was the family crest plated in gold.

I casually sat down in it and crossed my left leg over my right thigh. Mum saw what I did and whispered, ''Emma, what are you doing? You're going to make him angrier than he already was.''

''That's what I'm trying to do. Didn't you notice something about him? His voice, his appearence, it all didn't seem right,'' I whispered back.

''Yes, at first. I've been trying to come up with different scenarios, but nothing seemed to fit.''

I turned my attention to the emperor and the four guards, who had probably been standing there for the past few seconds. I laughed nervously and said, ''Er. . . hello. I know you're wondering what we're doing up here, but there's a perfect explanation for that-''

The emperor, who was obviously very annoyed with what I said, was turning red in the face. ''Guards; take them away!'' he yelled and as they were about to retrieve us, I began to reveal what I had figured out.

''You know what, you're absolutely right about that one, but- wait hold on, hold on,'' I insisted as the guards came towards us more and I held my hands in front of me to stop them, ''but it was all my fault. I devised the plan, so just punish me, okay? I know that you _look_ angry right now, but it's just the part of the old you. Your old _human_ feelings, to make things more clear. You've been planning this, emperor. You knew this kind of stuff would happen, so you thought you would just kill off four other humans just to make sure that the robbers got what they deserved? That, my dear antagonist, is just _sick_.''

I meant every word of that speech and creepily sounded just like Dad. I had walked up to him and spit the last word in his face so he knew just how devestating his actions were, if he even had an ounce of regret left in him.

He laughed and said looking down at me, ''What are you trying to say? That I just murdered four of my best guards for my own selfish actions in the afterlife?''

I shrugged and said, ''Pretty much.''

I walked over to where the guards stood, studied them and looked at him while saying, ''These guards; they were made to look real, weren't they? They have some of their old organs and muscles on them from when they were living, but their forms were made by means of grafting other people's skin on to theirs.''

I had walked over to him by this point and he said to me, ''It was the only way to protect what I value most.''

I chuckled and pointed out, ''Yes, but you thought you had no other way to do it. And what about you, emperor? You yourself just _had_ to be present to see who was brave and bold enough to steal your precious valuables. You have a human form, obviously, but something about you screams that you have somewhat of an. . . alien presence.''

''Are you suggesting that he's an android?'' Mum asked behind me.

I turned to her and said, ''Yes, I am.''

''But then how is he in the afterlife if he's an android?'' she asked me.

''Er. . . that may take a while, so I'll explain later,'' I answered.

I turned back to him and asked with curiosity and interest,''How did you become an android?''

''My planet was overtaken by Cybermen and I decided to defend it. I had fought many battles until one day during the skirmish, I was mortally wounded. I lie there in the mud on death's door until it came to my mind that a few of my comrades had mentioned about the thousands of our soldiers that had been taken captive and turned into androids. The Cybermen took me prisoner, along with a few hundred soldiers that day and I, using the resources at their base, secretly turned myself into an android as a way of life support. A few decades later, I was becoming increasingly immobile and weak, but the other part of me was becoming stronger as I became weaker. I had given four of my best guards the highest ranking I, as emperor, could give; protectors of my treasure in the afterlife. As you had said, I murdered them, kept a few of their organs and reformed them here so they could do their duty proudly.''

By this point, I had figured out how to get back to the cave and mentally mapped out the plan to Mum. She did what I asked her to do, but slightly opposed it.

_You do realise that this wouldn't only wipe out the emperor, but the guards, also?_

_ Yes, I do, but it's the only way to get us back to the cave._

''We all know that you protect what you value most, emperor, but where's the piece that you cherish the most? Surely it's not in the protection of your guards,'' Mum began to persuade as I prepared to get on with the plan, ''How did we get here if we're not dead? Is there some type of exit equipped? There has to be somewhere since my daughter and I were able to enter through. . .''

''You think that I am able to answer your questions that easily? I am nor ever was fooled by a woman's thick persuasion,'' he answered confidently.

''I never expected any answers, emperor, just a smooth escape,'' she said.

That was our signal to start, so I turned back to the throne and dismantled part of it by means of the sonic, leaving some of the chair untouched. Mum shot her gun at the emperor, which triggered the guards to come running towards us. I ran at him while Mum assembled the rest of the lock. The wound had entered through his right chest and only a minimal amount of blood was shed. I took hold of him and shoved my hand into his robotic interior. I pulled at the key until I retrieved it. The object had the same shape to it as a sonic screwdriver, but it was smaller and it was all wire-y. As soon as the guards were about to grab us, I plunged the key into the lock, which was on the bottom cushion of the chair, and a violent wind almost knocked me to my feet. Suddenly, everything around us dissolved and the guards were being extracted with it, along with the hall except the few metres around us, the throne and the emperor.

The wind was blowing faster and faster as the cave became more and more visible around us. His robes were being torn off by the harsh wind and showing only his robotic interior. He had a bright red robotic eyes and as he began to dissolve, he looked at us with vengence. The cave became clearer than ever as I felt the key begin to dissolve into ash in my hand. I felt Mum grip my other hand as we were pulled through to the cave entrance. It was like the other world was being pulled back, fading to dust while we landed on the floor of the entrance forcefully.

We stayed there for a few seconds until we both got to our feet.

''What do we do now?'' I asked her.

''I'll call your father, and he'll come pick us up, unless you want to go on another expedition with me.''

She began tapping her scanner as I answered, ''I think I'll wait until next time, thanks.''

''Alright then,'' she said as she called Dad.

The wait for him took only about five minutes (which was a record for him) and we gathered the climbing gear while we waited. The engines of the TARDIS grew as time passed and once she landed, Dad opened the door and poked his head out.

''Please tell me I'm on time,'' he said, checking his watch.

''Nope. We've been waiting here for hours and we're bored out of our minds,'' I said in an overly sarcastic voice as I walked into the time machine.

My parents followed me in and Dad ran up to the controls. He turned to us and then asked, ''How does Victorian London sound?''

''Really? Victorian London? That was your best suggestion? How about New Earth or 25th century Ireland for a change?'' I suggested.

''Ireland? How did I suggest something so common and you suggest something so random?'' he asked.

''I don't know, it just was the first thing that came into my head,'' I half lied.

''Is that alright with you?'' he asked Mum.

''That sounds good to me,'' she agreed.

''Okay, then. Off to 25th century Ireland,'' he said, flying the TARDIS into the time vortex.

**Sorry it took so long, I had to take my driver's test and I had orientation this week, so that kind of threw me off. Anyway, the next chapter explains some of Emma's past and I'm going to try and be as accurate as I can with the next one. Thank you for everyone who reads/ reviews/favorites/follows this story! : )**


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